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e3u96j | why does taking a multivitamin cause your urine to become such a vibrant neon colour? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e3u96j/eli5_why_does_taking_a_multivitamin_cause_your/ | {
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"First cause it's awesome. Second because your body doesn't need all of each vitamin you ingest so what it doesn't use is flushed through urine and some have bright colours. I think it's vit c. But could be wrong.",
"Doctors say it’s not unhealthy but you’d just be wasting extra vitamins\n\n(Adding a fact to it since it was already explained)",
"Because not all the vitamins are absorbed by the body when they are available in high proportions so some is excreted without being absorbed, it is their presence in the urine which changes the colour."
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4ep7xb | why do some sites have that annoying "click next" feature to see further content when its an easier surfing experience having everything displayed on the web page you are on at once? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ep7xb/eli5_why_do_some_sites_have_that_annoying_click/ | {
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"Because that way they can generate more add views, and thus generate more revenue. It's all about making money. ",
"Some people say so they can generate more ad views, which is a valid reason.\n\nAnother reason is loading times. Some pages/articles have a lot of pictures, and if you have 20 pictures the loading time for the page tend to be slow. Now if you split them into 5 pages it'll be much more faster.\n\nBefore you jump in and say \"but the loading time difference is so low it won't make a difference!\" IT DID. That's how google beat yahoo back in 2008. That 0.1 second of loading time made the difference.",
"If you notice most of those types of pages are the ones that are jammed full of as many adverts as physically possible, which gives you the reason for the hugely inefficient 'click for next image' model - every time you click forwards to a new page, they get to reload all of their adverts, which is one of the metrics used by the advertising companies to determine payment. More refreshes = more revenue.\n\nCouple a hugely annoying format with what is typically nothing more than clickbait and I know there is now a list of sites I ignore when I see their address in a link."
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56ft7p | does my phone still emit radiation when it's switched off or on airplane mode? | We often hear about the health hazards of radiation emitted by phones. If I switch my phone off, am I safe from its radiation? What about airplane mode? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56ft7p/eli5_does_my_phone_still_emit_radiation_when_its/ | {
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"YOU emit radiation. In fact, you emit more radiation than your phone. \n\nAirplane mode just means your phone won't receive or transmit radio and other telecommunicative signals. Nothing to do with radiation. \n\n 0",
"Radiation can be an emission of energy, or it can be the release of high energy sub atomic particles like neutrinos. There is a difference. Light radiates and heat radiates but not all light and heat will hurt you and there is a huge difference between something that radiates, and something that is radioactive. \n\nIn the case of a cellphone, switching it off powers down the transmitters and it should not radiate. There is a very simple experiment you can do if you want to see if something radiates or not. All you need is an LED and a diode. You twist the legs of them together observing the correct polarity and the legs act like antennae. When you bring it near something which radiates the LED will begin to flicker as the diode converts radio energy into electrical DC energy. "
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3e841z | why are some states so much more expensive to live in than others? | I never understood what the reasoning was behind how it all works, like why NJ is so astronomically priced when it comes to everything, compared to the southern states like Florida and South Carolina. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3e841z/eli5_why_are_some_states_so_much_more_expensive/ | {
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"In the general case, the answer is just \"supply and demand\". I know that's not satisfying, but its really the most specific way to answer your question.\n\nIt costs more to get goods to some places than to others and sellers (for that and many other reasons) will be more willing to offer a lower price in some geographies than another.\n\nSimilarly, some places are wealthier than others and buyers in some geographies are willing to pay more for goods (for that and other reasons)."
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2r137c | what is it about old houses (or any house) that causes it to sound as though someone is walking around upstairs, when in fact no one is? | This was especially an issue in the case of my mom's old house. I'd pop by for a visit (I had a key), hear someone walking back and forth across the floor upstairs and assume my brother was up there... then in the front door my brother would come. What was making that noise? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r137c/eli5_what_is_it_about_old_houses_or_any_house/ | {
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"It's the wood. The older it gets, the more it makes those creaking sounds. "
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1mdb2n | how come humans need to learn how to have sex whereas insects with complicated mating rituals don't? | I honestly didn't know what sex was and how it works until I started watching porn/sex ed/the "talk". How do insects know how to mate without learning, but we need instructions? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mdb2n/eli5_how_come_humans_need_to_learn_how_to_have/ | {
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"We don't have to learn how to have sex. Two humans who are attracted to each other can and will figure it out without a great deal of difficulty. 'Twas ever thus. ",
"The way brains learn things is by growing connections between neurons and strengthening them by repeated stimulation of the connected neurons. \"Neurons that fire together, wire together\" is the usual formulation. This is the way you for instance learn to associate strawberries with sweetness - the neurons representing the appearance of strawberries (small, red, bumpy) and their texture and so on are stimulated together with the neurons triggered by sweetness sensors on the tongue, so connections grow between them and you learn that strawberries taste sweet.\n\nInstinct is like building the brain with those connections already in place, without having to have the learning experience to produce them. Genes modify the way the brain grows (while it's developing) so that it's predisposed to think in a particular pattern. This is a more limited mechanism than learning (because it has to change with genetic drift and selection rather than individual experience) but it can still be a powerful system. Mating rituals and such are typically instinctual, and some are [fixed action patterns](_URL_0_) that act almost like programs - present the stimulus and any individual will react in nearly the same way using the same fixed \"script\" of actions. If those actions cause procreation, the genes are very likely to thrive in the population.\n\nNow as to human mating instinct, remember that with instinct it's two different things to intellectually know how sex happens and to be able to perform the actions when the opportunity and stimulus present themselves. Nevertheless, AFAIK humans generally don't depend on instinct very much once we reach maturity. Our learning ability is our species' greatest evolutionary advantage so we seem to focus on that. ",
"Sex ed informs you of a lot about sex and how to practice safe and responsible sex. \n\nIf you hadn't taken those classes, you could figure out how to bump uglies, and to thrust it in and out. You might not know exactly how the reproductive system works; but you would still be able to know how to use the system.",
"once you hit puberty, you will develop a strong fascination with the naughty bits of the opposite sex, instinctually. from there it's a short leap to putting your dingdong in her hoohaa.",
"Reproduction is a skill we are born with.\n\nWe teach sex ed to fulfill a desire to learn and to prevent reproduction and spread of diseases.\n\nLearning how to be good at sex is learned for enjoyment.",
"Most animals *need* the instincts in order to mate, because they can't communicate as elegantly as we do. Even before the advent of language, our ape-like ancestors could still point to their naughty bits and indicate that it feels really good when my thingy goes into your thingy, so there wasn't much evolutionary pressure to develop instincts to solve the riddle for us. As long as we manage to mate without instincts, there is no reason for evolution to select traits that would make the process more instinctual than it already is.\n\nAs for you needing videos to \"teach\" you, well as higher animals, there are certain expectations going into it, and we like to be prepared, and not look a jackass the first time we're naked with a member of the opposite sex saying \"Now what?\"\n\nBut if you had two people who had never learned how to have sex \"properly,\" I promise they would still figure it out eventually.",
"I'd think that two people would figure it out on their own but after about 2-3 minutes she'd end up pregnant. ",
"From my experience it's just kind of instinct. I grew up in a very strict environment where my parents never gave me the talk and my school only taught abstinence. I had a general idea of what sex was but that was it. My boyfriend and I had been messing around and just doing what felt good. All I knew is that I wanted him inside of me and from there you kind of just go with what your body tells you is right."
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17komh | - why isn't gold affected by magnets? | Like... I saw it in a Disney Channel movie, (one about a dude who was actually a leprechaun and has a magic coin that kept him human), that you can determine what is and isn't gold because gold is not affected by magnets. I'm pretty sure gold is a metal, and I was in believing that magnets affect metal, so why not gold? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17komh/eli5_why_isnt_gold_affected_by_magnets/ | {
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"Gold is affected by a magnetic field, but not nearly so much as iron is.",
"The type of magnetism you're thinking of is [ferromagnetism](_URL_0_). Not all metals or alloys are ferromagnetic.",
"The kind of magnetism that gives a strong response is associated with a specific configuration of electrons around the nucleus of the atom. This configuration makes the material susceptible to magnetization, and therefore makes it strongly magnetic. \n\nGold does not have this configuration of electrons. As a matter of fact, very few metals do - most metals do *not* have the strong kind of magnetism associated with, eg, Iron. "
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2zbpn7 | why is defacing currency illegal, but creating elongated coins legal? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zbpn7/eli5_why_is_defacing_currency_illegal_but/ | {
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"The law against defacing coins forbids doing so in order to commit fraud. [18 USC § 331](_URL_0_). This law dates back to when coins were made of gold and silver and and, by shaving a bit off of a coin, one could cheat others out of the full value of a coin while holding back some of the value for oneself. That is the law isn't protecting the coins, but rather protecting those who accept government currency from being defrauded.\n\nThe penny smashers don't amount to fraud. No one will think that penny is worth a nickle now. So the law doesn't cover them. ",
"According to the Department of Treasury, while Title 18, U. S. C. sections 331 and 475 make it illegal to mutilate coins, those laws are to prevent fraud and counterfeit. If you have no intent to convert the coins into something they aren't, and merely wish to create a souvenir, then you have no intent to commit fraud. \n\nLack of intent (mens rea) in legal terms, means that there has been no crime committed. \n\nFWIW, I, and many others would disagree with his interpretation. I think that the long and short of it is that pressing coins was fun and popular, and as it doesn't actually create counterfeit in any way, then they didn't want to upset the applecart, and decided to just let it go. ",
"Because coinage and paper currency are covered under separate laws.\n\nFor coins they focus on fraudulent intent, for paper currency they focus on an intent to render it unfit for further circulation."
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1x9akl | why does it seem like there are more pessimists than optimists? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1x9akl/eli5_why_does_it_seem_like_there_are_more/ | {
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"That seems pessimistic",
"Because Pessimists tend to be vocal and loud about how unhappy they are... the Optimists are too busy being happy.",
"Personally, I blame the [Negativity Effect](_URL_0_). Excerpt below. \n\n > Negativity effect'' refers to the psychological phenomenon that people tend to attach greater weight to negative information than to equally extreme and equally likely positive information in a variety of information processing tasks. Numerous studies of impression formation have found that negative information is weighted more heavily than positive information as impressions of others are formed. There is empirical evidence in political science that shows the importance of the negativity effect in the information processing of the voters. This effect can explain the observed decrease of popularity for a president the longer he is in office. \\\\ We construct a dynamic model of political competition, incorporating the negativity effect in the decision rule of the voters and allowing their preferences to change over time, according to the past performance of the candidates while in office. Our model may explain the emergence of ideologies out of the competition for votes of myopic candidates freely choosing policy positions. This result gives rise to the formation of political parties, as infinitely--lived agents with a certain ideology. Furthermore, in this model some voters may start out by switching among parties associated with different policies, but find themselves supporting one of the parties from some point on. Thus, the model describes a process by which some voters become identified with a ``right'' or ``left'' bloc, while others ``swing'' between the two parties.\n\nFor a more in depth article you can try [this](_URL_1_).\n",
"It's very easy to find the negative in anything. You could take any if your friends and relatives and have something negative to say. In America it's very easy to say \"NSA!\" or \"broken political system!\" But people often don't mention, \"highest GDP\" or \"highest quality of life\" or \"beautiful scenery.\" ",
"Because of entropy. There are a litteral ton of ways things could go wrong. If something randomly happens theres a overwhelming chance its something bad. Be it earthquakes, hurricanes or financial crisis. If something good is to happen someone has to decide to make it happen and actually carry it through. "
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afna33 | how does geography affect the shapes of noses around the world? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/afna33/eli5_how_does_geography_affect_the_shapes_of/ | {
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"I have read that the colder and drier the air, the longer, taller, and more narrow the nose. Narrow nostrils warm the air, and a longer 'tunnel' to go through also helps warm and moisturize the air you take in.\n\nI have a short button nose with rounded nostrils, and I actively avoid deep nose inhalations outside in the winter. It is like an ice blast to the sinuses/brain."
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46m1wl | why are there a million articles/reports saying there is a shortage of trades workers (plumbers, mechanics, electricians, etc) yet there are no apprenticeships or training schemes for any of these? | Any stories out there? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/46m1wl/eli5_why_are_there_a_million_articlesreports/ | {
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"IU don't know about the UK, but the IBEW (electricians union) here in the US runs apprentice programs in every local. They came to career day at the local High School and here handing out brochures to everybody.",
"I don't know how the UK works specifically, because I'm in the US. Most industries in here have some sort of program like what you are asking about, the challenge is making them accessible to people trying to change their careers. If you were formally a carpenter building houses in City A and have a family and all the fixings, then a recession hits--what do you do to change careers? You could become a wind turbine construction person, but the training program may be in City C or even another state altogether, and require 18 months before you graduate. What do you do with your house, family, etc during that time? How do you pay for the program? Even if the training is free or the cost is built into later paychecks, how do you re-organize your life for those months or years? What if there is a waiting list for the program?\n\nIf your original career comes back online, do you go back? Or keep moving forward and \"screw going back\"?\n\nMost programs at the moment are built around the premise that the students will be relatively young, independent, possibly single, etc as opposed to trying to shift gears mid-career. \n\nThe other factor that plays in here is the last recession--a lot of those positions were furloughed or layed off during the recession. I was not in skilled labor, but the principle still applies. I took a couple years to see if things would come back around, and when they didn't, I made moves to change careers. Six years later I'm finally feeling like I can make progress and...what happened? The news started announcing just this last fall that so and so industry were expanding/hiring and were at a loss for where all these workers were. I can tell you where everyone went--they moved on, and those that didn't still have to re-do licenses, re-training, etc as in many industries those 'license to operate' type things expire or require occasional updates that may not have been kept current if the person was pursuing other work.",
"In Canada, you're encouraged to do trades that are in demand through grants. \n\nAs a welder, I get a $1000 grant after each of the first two periods of apprenticeship. Then a $2000 grant upon completing the final year and becoming a journeyman.\n\nYou can also apply for other grants and incentive programs as well.",
"My knowledge of this is limited to mechanics in the US. I work part time as a mechanic to pay my way through school. There is absolutely no shortage of mechanics. However, a lot of shops, especially the high volume ones that employ lots of mechanics, want to pay them as little as possible. The more unemployed mechanics there are, the less they have to pay the ones they do employ. It's in their best interest to have as many people in that profession as possible.",
"Who benefits from apprenticeships? Everyone. Who pays for them? The employer. Made worse as a lot of the businesses that do that sort of thing are relatively small.",
"In the us unions are willing to do training for all those. Unfortunately growing up I personally never learned what unions were or what they offered so I never knew how to look into them. I had to go military to get my skills and that's just luck in getting the right job",
"Partly it might be an exaggeration on the part of the articles, or simply outdated information. The jobs you mention (well, plumbing and electrics) are closely tied to the construction industry, which I believe has been shrinking for the last two quarters (hence, according to the technical definition, it could be said the construction industry is in recession) - I may be wrong about that though, haven't double checked the figures.\n\nPartly it's probably a regional thing - do you live outside the South/South East of England? The majority of growth and the biggest gains in house prices (and therefore the largest incentives to build) are focused in these areas. Firms outside of these areas might not be recruiting because they're just not doing that well.\n\nPartly it's probably due to some uncertainties regarding the qualification structures and funding. The UK government has been tampering quite a lot with how Apprenticeships are funded, which has caused some confusion amongst employers (and FE colleges delivering, to be honest!) \n\nAlso, in recent years, Sector Skills Councils for these areas have changed the qualification structures and requirements. (These are the people that tell the likes of City and Guilds what types of courses they can run and how to run them.) \n\nThese changes have made it a lot harder to meet the requirements, especially in terms of increasing the amount of site-based evidence that must be collected (and cannot be simulated in a college environment) - as a result the failure rate has gone up and employers are finding the more stringent requirements difficult to meet. Perhaps as a result, it's too much hassle.\n\nAlso, and though there is the risk of generalising here, I do speak from some experience, many of the younger lads (and I say lads on purpose, because the few girls that do it are usually extremely diligent) will create a bad overall impression and put employers off.\n\nThere are simply too many (I'm not saying this is true for **all** - but there are too many for sure) that are basically immature and unreliable. They smoke too much weed, they spend too long playing on their phone, they get involved in too much banter and they don't do enough work.\n\nOr the work isn't a good enough standard, because they don't take enough pride in it.\n\nFirms simply cannot afford the damage this does to their profits or their reputations, so after having two or three lads like this on the trot, they are understandably reluctant to get stung again.\n\nSad, and unfair on the good ones, but it is what it is"
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4f1t29 | why are we sometimes unable to connect to some public wifi networks, even if they have full wifi strength? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f1t29/eli5_why_are_we_sometimes_unable_to_connect_to/ | {
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"Some of them have a limit on the number of devices that can connect at the same time.\n\nSome of them require additional login credentials you have to fill in (on some phones this menu doesn't always appear). "
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21agkz | how big of a deal is it "actually" that russia was "kicked" out of g8? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21agkz/eli5_how_big_of_a_deal_is_it_actually_that_russia/ | {
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"Russia was not \"kicked\" it is suspended. A time out if you will. "
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272g5w | what is the difference between megaupload and piratebay, and why is one shut down while the other is still active? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/272g5w/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_megaupload/ | {
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"Because Megaupload stored files where Piratebay not not. The fact the founders of Piratebay were convicted in court of their intent, not the actual content of the site.",
"Megaupload stored the files in there servers. Piratebay dosen't. When you download a .torrent file from piratebay, it downloads from other peoples computers, aka seeders. And piratebay constantly moves there servers.",
"The Piratebay guy was arrested in Sweden this week.",
"The excuse that \"actual files were stored on megaupload\" is pretty weak, as megaupload was actively cooperating with the police. It's pretty clear that some very high level pressure was put on busting Megaupload, and I really can't explain it. The police have claimed that Megaupload was not sufficiently complying with DMCA Notices, which is the kind of thing that normally gets worked out in the courts over the span of 10 years, instead of seizure of the entire company and all known assets. Comparatively, HSBC engaged in extensive money laundering, and actively concealed it, and in no way cooperated with the police, and got barely a pat on the wrist. So either\n\n1. There is some vast unknown, like video of Kim jackassname raping children\n\nor\n\n2. Someone said \"Make an example of Megaupload.\" and the police said \"Yes Sir, would you like his head mounted before we deliver it?\" like in a gangster movie.",
"Part of it is legal jurisdiction. The Pirate bay has been raided, the founders charged etc. But they have managed to stay more or less legally wherever they set up shop and then they bolt to a new legal area at the first sign of serious trouble (sometimes that's a new country, sometimes that's within a political party etc.).\n\nMegaupload though, they were based somewhere that was willing to go along with the US. New Zealand in this case. \n\nThe Piratebay has known all along that they were going to constantly face legal trouble - Megaupload though went the Rap star route - make a big show of violating the law but in practice act like you're actually complying with it (which maybe they were, maybe they weren't). That meant some very practical differences. Megaupload had assets on centralized hosted servers that could be seized and had real substantial value, the piratebay can be rehosted on basically a smartphone with an internet connection (though they ideally need something better than that), kim dotcom has money and assets in his own name that could be seized, the piratebay founders don't really have much of anything. Also, Kim Dotcom thought he was complying with the law, so he wasn't based somewhere with less friendly ties to the US (which in hindsight he should have been). \n\n\nIn terms of the practical difference - megaupload hosted files, the pirate bay hosts (complex) links to files on other peoples computer essentially. Both have infringing and non infringing uses. Google drive and dropbox could both be used like megaupload essentially, whereas the piratebay 'links' are basically just searches within a network - a network created by users. \n\n",
"Because it's possible to shut down Megaupload and next to impossible to shutdown Piratebay.\n\nThe content of Megaupload was stored entirely on Megaupload servers which made them easy targets for the justice system. Once the feds obtained the servers they were able to immediately erase/destroy them which in effect destroyed \"Megaupload\". \n\nPiratebay on the other hand is not like that at all. Piratebay is basically a phonebook that lists all the trackers (actually Magnets but whatever) for different torrents. The entire size (content/code..etc) of Piratebay is extremely small and is easily transferable through emails or usb drives. There is in fact multiple copies of the site backed up and distributed to different groups throughout the world which is why when the founders were arrested years ago the site came back online in a matter of days.\n\nTl;dr: Megaupload is big and cumbersome and easy to shutdown. Piratebay is light and can easily move from one host to the next and anyone with a decent internet speed and cheap server can support it. \n\nAlso, it's interesting to note that while \"Megaupload\" was shut down, \"Mega\" has popped right back up to fill it's niche.",
"ThePirateBay is a tout you meet on the street who will give you directions to a place where you can get some knock-off DVDs. Megaupload was the actual market stall that sold/gave away the knock-off DVDs."
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6gp8y4 | why were pirates so worried about scurvy when they we're mainly in the tropics, where oranges, lemons, and limes were regularly grown? | Or is this a common misconception? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gp8y4/eli5_why_were_pirates_so_worried_about_scurvy/ | {
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"Pirates contrary to popular belief were not always in the tropics or near land. Fresh fruit spoils rather quickly and on long sea voyages that could take months to cross oceans or to even encounter a merchant ship to plunder required alternative sources of food such as fish or live stock brought on board.",
"Two things:\n\n1) it wasn't only pirates. All sailors had to worry about it since they would be at sea for days/weeks on end, and it isn't all that easy for food to keep on a ship.\n\n2) it wasn't like today where you can just go to a shop and buy fruit. The chance of running by enough trees to restock would be very unlikely.",
"Pirates didnt know citrus counteracts scurvy, just like everyone else at the time. Pirates as we think of them (skull and crossbones, Blackbeard, treasure chests of gold) were during The Golden Age of Piracy, loosely defined as taking place 1650~1730. The idea that Citrus (or lemons, they didnt catch on to other sources till later) didnt start kicking around until 1747 and didnt gain widespread knowledge and legitimacy (in the British Navy, so not everyone knew) until 1795. \n\nThe Pirates of then probably were better off than most seafaring men though. The fact they lived where Citrus was plentiful and made landfall regularly (as opposed to anyone sailing across oceans in voyages measured in months) meant in general they would have had better access to green foods and by extension citrus. ",
"The reason they worried so much about it was because they didn't know what caused it. \n\nOf course we know today that vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy. [My god is it ever dreadful.](_URL_0_) More British sailors died from scurvy than died in battle in the 1800's because they didn't know the simple cure. They thought bad air and dampness was causing their anemia and wasting, teeth falling out, rashes, bleeding in their joints...I'd be worried about it, too.\n\nIn 1747, British Naval surgeon, James Lind, conducted a study in which he gave citrus fruits to some sailors who had scurvy and within days they became well while others continued to sicken. He'd discovered the cure. He even had the results published. Yet, even he doubted his own work. He still believed it was really caused by infection of some sort.\n\nIt wasn't until over 40 years later that the treatment eventually caught on. At that time, the British government began stocking ships with citrus fruits (lemons, limes) and there's where the term \"Limey\" came from for a British sailor."
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69s5j9 | what's the difference between nihilism and plain pessimism? | The idea being 'nothing matters'. Just like how nobody will read this post, and I don't matter... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69s5j9/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_nihilism_and/ | {
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"Nihilism is a philosophy that there is a lack of meaning to anything. Pessimism is a belief that things will turn out for the worst.\n\nA Nihlist could totally be an optimist. They could think they are probably going to ace their test, get that girl's/boy's number, etc. They just don't think that ultimately those actions have any intrinsic meaning other than making their brains temporarily pump out more good feels on this trip from void to void.\n\nA pessimist on the other hand could very much think theiris a purpose to things, just that the worst outcome is likely. They could think the meaning to life is happiness... just that they probably aren't going to achieve it. They could think the purpose in life is to praise God, but that god chose them to be a Job full of suffering rather than a Solomon full of wisdom. They could even think they are on the road to achieving the goal of the universe, but this week is probably going to go wrong.",
"Nihilism is more about finding meaning after realizing that there is no inherent meaning in anything. It's not the gothic darkness that it is so commonly associated with these days.\n\nNihilism is, \"There's no point to existence, so I might as well make the world a better place while I'm here and enjoy it.\"\n\nPessimism is a negative-leaning attitude or perspective. You can be a pessimistic nihilist by saying, \"Nothing matters, so what's the point?\" You can be pessimistic and religious by saying, \"My gods have forsaken me.\" Basically, you expect more bad things to happen than good ones.\n\nA pessimist says, \"Why bother playing this game? I will lose anyway.\" The nihilist says, \"Win or lose, there's no meaning behind it anyway, so I might as well see if it is enjoyable.\""
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2bh4wu | the concept of 'squatting' in a home that isn't yours and why it's so difficult to remove squatters from the premises in certain places. what stops people from kicking in the door to residence they own and throwing squatters out? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bh4wu/eli5_the_concept_of_squatting_in_a_home_that_isnt/ | {
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"If you have 10 homeless people in an house for example and you don't know them, they could be drunk, drug addict, violent or any thing else, would you alone storm in the house ?",
"Could be a number of reasons:\n\nThe owner of building is not aware of the squatters, or simply doesn't care. Remember, the owner of the building may be some nameless overseas corporation. Or, a rundown building is scheduled for demolition sometime next year. Do you think the owner cares what happens to the building between now and then?\n\nIn some/most countries squatters have legal rights and you literally can't just kick them out. Even stranger, if they squat somewhere long enough they could have a legal claim of ownership.\n(Look up slums in Brazil. If you squat somewhere for 5 years you can claim ownership, there's a reason they are bulldozed exactly every X years or something like that)\n\nPolice are not always keen to enter buildings with squatters in them;\n\nPlace could be boobytrapped, or even fortified, not to mention drug paraphernalia lying about. Or simply so rundown that it is not safe to enter. Also, don't assume that the squatters would live in easy to access parts. Good chance they're hiding in the crawlspace for example. Are you going to crawl in there and ask them nicely to please leave the premises?\n\nDid I mention fortified by the way? Here's a choice quote from Wikipedia:\n\n**\"The squatting movement took on an increasingly anarchist tone during the 1980s. On 29 February, police moved to evict residents from a squatted building on the corner of Vondelstraat. It was immediately reoccupied and barricades erected. Street fights ensued between riot police and the squatters, with the building being cleared when a military tank demolished the surrounding street barricades\"**\n\n\nLast but not least, another little anecdote about squatters in Amsterdam:\n(Most buildings in Amsterdam are multi-storey FYI).\n\nA rural cop spends a few days in the big city for work-experience, and he notices that his city colleagues always take their hats off when they walk up to a building.\n\nSo he asks: **\"Why do you guys take your hats off when you walk up to the building?\"**\n\"Ah, that's so we can see if the residents are trying to drop a fridge out the window onto our heads!\"\n\n",
"Actually, I \"squatted\" on and off for about 4 years 14-18 in the US. In my experience, alot of the time, It's a civil issue not a criminal one. Civil suits take time. Also, for instance; when the housing market crashed and a lot of banks went under or had been absorbed by other banks, some properties went into a grey area where no one owned them / or lost knowlege of them. Legally, allowing \"squatters\" to file the right paper work and own the property due to failure from banks to respond etc.. You can kind of see how this works. For an example; you let someone live on your property without a lease or legal arrangement; then they refuse to leave. You would have to sue them and them violate a court order for the police to have legitimate legal standing to remove them. There are alot of avenues. \nEDIT: Sorry about the awful grammar.",
"This is a good question. I'm from the US. It depends on the state. In Texas, you can squat on abandoned homes. But in Texas, if you try to squat a house, the owner shows up, you can be physically harmed up to and including your death. \n\nOklahoma is like this as well. But Pennsylvania gets weird, iirc. \n\nIf I catch someone squatting in my home after a lengthy vacation*, I will physically throw them out just [like Uncle Phil does to Jazz](_URL_0_)\n\n*Saw a news story where this happened: family went on a lengthy vacation and a squatter took up residence in their home. \n\n"
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8ge1fn | how do hang nails happen? are there any ways to prevent them from happening? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ge1fn/eli5_how_do_hang_nails_happen_are_there_any_ways/ | {
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"If you get regular manicures your problems with hangnails will disappear. \n\nThey will push your cuticle back. And then they will snip away at the extra cuticle you have. And that is the stuff that will become a hangnail if you let it. "
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plvns | how snl can use copyrighted material without getting into trouble? | Just saw the Verizon skit, how does Saturday Night Live use things like logos and company names without getting in trouble or getting sued? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/plvns/eli5_how_snl_can_use_copyrighted_material_without/ | {
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"text": [
"First Amendment has been said to protect parody and satire. They can get in trouble for libel, if their jokes are determined to be outright harmful to the brand, but just making fun of somebody is protected. ",
"This is my favourite video explanation of this question. If you've never seen it, it's well worth the 10 minutes. [A Fairy Use Tale.](_URL_0_) and it does a really good job explaining 'Fair Use'. 6 m24s is where fair use is explained, but the whole thing is well worth the time to watch. ",
"_URL_0_\n\nIts NOT the first amendment, its copyright law, that gives them the right to do that without being sued. ",
"Logos and company names are typically trademarked, not copyrighted. (I suppose it is also possible to copyright the artistic design of a logo, but almost certainly not the company's name itself.)\n\nTrademarks prevent competitors from selling products under the same name (or a name similar enough to be misleading). They don't prevent anything else.\n\nAnd, as other people have mentioned, using copyrighted material in parody is protected. A copyright doesn't give you a universal right to prevent anyone from ever using your material; it has limits. Besides parody, there is also \"fair use\" (which allows anyone to use a small subcomponent of a larger copyrighted work), and there is the fact that copyrights eventually expire (unless you can pay the Congress to keep extending them)."
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9xvwi4 | where do blood goes after a person dies naturally or out of sickness? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9xvwi4/eli5_where_do_blood_goes_after_a_person_dies/ | {
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"After death the blood just congeals in the arteries and veins because the heart has stopped pushing it around the body.\n\nUnless the person dies because of blood loss, in that case the blood goes everywhere.\n\nEdit: congeals means it turns into clumps, almost like very thick mud. ",
"Towards the ground. It pools. It’s rather grotesque looking. That’s if it’s not drained, I don’t know what the embalming process is. I saw some pictures somewhere one time of a cadaver or something, their back was purple because they were stored face-up and the blood pooled in their back. ",
"What the above guys said is true. It actually is one of the few sure signs of death. I don't know the English term, mind You (plamy opadowe in Polish)."
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1toory | what is an rpg (role-playing game)? | Whenever I think of an RPG i think of Pokemon or something. But is Call of Duty an RPG since you are taking the role of someone? Is Assassins Creed an RPG? Explain to me what the difference is. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1toory/eli5_what_is_an_rpg_roleplaying_game/ | {
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"No, Call of Duty isn't seen as a role playing game. The big reason is because those playing a role playing game have at least some decision making in the direction the game takes even if it has a predefined end point. In Call of Duty you just have separate missions to take part in and the games are basically on rails. \n\nSo from that a RPG is a game in which the player has at least some decision making abilities in how the game plays out. This can be through a branching storyline, skills, etc that can be worked on and increased, a sense that you're living the character's life, etc. They don't all have to be part of a game to make it a role playing game, but the first one, the decision making, is a pretty big one.\n",
"Going off what panzerkampfwagen said, a role-playing game 30 years ago was something like Dungeons & Dragons, a game where you built a character and participated in role-playing and adventuring in the comfort of your own home, sitting around a table with your buddies. Video-games that are called RPGs are based on the mechanics of these original table-top games, and therefore share the same name, even if character creation is not always the main focus.",
"RPGs tend to have a level-up element, where characters gain experience points throughout the game and upon leveling up, you can assign stat/attribute points and/or unlock new abilities. Even though games like Pokemon don't have branching storylines that are based on your characters' actions, you have the RPG element in leveling up pokemons, learning new attacks, and evolutions."
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bsg4sb | why do transparent phone cases turn yellow after a while? | Note that this happens even if the phone rarely exposed to the sun light | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bsg4sb/eli5_why_do_transparent_phone_cases_turn_yellow/ | {
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"text": [
"The transparent phone cases are often made of polyurethane. When exposed to UV light, polyurethane can degrade and become oxidized, turning into yellow-ish compounds called quinones."
]
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3f7j0p | how do illegal immigrants work/live? don't they need documents to get housing or a job, car, etc. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3f7j0p/eli5_how_do_illegal_immigrants_worklive_dont_they/ | {
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"There are a variety of creative solutions to get around each of these issues.\n\nPublic transportation or getting rides from friends and family would be the easiest way to get around without owning a vehicle.\n\nPlenty of businesses will hire people without the proper docs, as they can pay them cash under the table, often less than minimum wage and tax free.\n\nLikewise with the living situation. You can stay with friends or family, or rent from a less than legal landlord without any ID.",
"Do you need to provide citizenship or immigration papers to a landlord? I never did. All I did was show up with money.\n\nDid you need to show citizenship papers to the car dealer? I just showed up with cash money.\n\nDid you need to check citizenship papers when you hired a day worker to dig a hole? Nobody does. "
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14b9nk | if there were to be a tax in place that would make higher education more affordable/free in the u.s. what would be some pro's and con's? | More precisely, which method of taxation would be most likely to garner the most revenue? I've postulated adding $.50 to each $10.00 transaction in the U.S. Is that even plausible? It would definitely generate a LOT of revenue but exactly who would oppose it and why? I've also toyed with charging $.02 per gallon of gas purchased to supplement the $.50 for every $10.00 tax.
I tried googling this idea but it didn't furnish the results I wanted. Maybe I didn't search the correct terms.
Also, what sort of red-tape would I have to cut through to even get this considered? Should there be eligibility requirements in order to benefit? If so, what sort? I was thinking that maybe there could be a contractual agreement, between the government and the beneficiaries of this tax money, stating that they can only choose certain majors. Or that they have to achieve a certain level of success or suffer some sort of monetary misfortune. Thanks in advance for all useful input. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14b9nk/if_there_were_to_be_a_tax_in_place_that_would/ | {
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"You're asking like a billion questions. \n\nAs Dane(free higher education) who has lived in the US (not so free higher education) I'll give my opinion on the overall question;\n\nPros of free higher education: \nI think the main thing here is *social movability*. The ability for anyone to move up the social ranks. That is, how well you do in life is based on you, and not the social rank of your parents. To me this is the definition of the *American Dream* and it's quite ironic that America do so poorly on this metric. You want the people in your country to do well because they're smart and hard working - not because their parents are rich.\n\nCons: \n\nThe cons of higher taxes are extremely widespread and depends on who and what you're taxing. Let's say you increase the price of gas. Now you're increasing the tax on people who drive a lot(eg. live in rual areas) and not on people who live close to their job (eg. someone living on wall street). Now this single mom who is driving 2 hours a day to go to both her jobs to support her two children has to pay more, while the rich guy on well street doesn't care. Is that fair? Is that what you intended? \n\nAlright, you say. Let's only increase the tax on people making more than one million. Well, maybe that's just the push they needed to retire. Leave and have someone less qualified to take over. Or maybe they had been thinking of leaving for Hong Kong. Or... or... and so on. It's a completely chaotic system that's basically impossible to predict. "
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20wpm6 | if most of the world's economies are growing, then where does all that "extra" money come from? | If most of the world's economies are growing, then where does all that "extra" money come from? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20wpm6/eli5_if_most_of_the_worlds_economies_are_growing/ | {
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"So when you look at the \"value\" (using the term loosely) of an economy, what you are really looking at is the value of the goods and services produced within that economy, not the amount of money that economy possesses. So you might ask how is it possible for an economy to grow without increasing the money supply. It's quite simple! Money moves around between people, and can do so at changing rates (economists refer to this idea as the \"velocity of money\"). When money moves more quickly, it means that more people will each be using the same dollar. If a bunch of people buy a $1 pack of gum, but each use the same dollar to do so (the dollar having been given to the store, who then use the dollar to pay their employees), that doesn't make the total value of all packs of gum worth only $1! Clearly each pack was worth $1 individually, yet they were all purchased with the same dollar.\n\nOnce you enter an open economy (an economy that isn't isolated), things become even more complex, because you can have money coming in from other countries through various means. But the main point to gather is that the value of an economy is not strictly limited by the supply of money!"
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69xz0j | if all cells have the same dna, why are there different kinds of cells? | In other words, how does a skin cell know to be a skin cell and not some other kind of tissue? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69xz0j/eli5_if_all_cells_have_the_same_dna_why_are_there/ | {
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"All cells contain the same genome, but different genes are activated in different cells, it is the combinations of which genes are turned on/off that detirmines the cell type.",
"Evolutionary Biology student here! \nThe answer is epigenetics. Gene expression can be silenced or enhanced by a few different mechanisms including methylation and histone modifications. C and G rich regions of the genome (called CpG islands) upstream of genes can have methyl groups added to them which prevent transcription (expression) of those genes. For example, a blood cell will have completely different methylation patterns (called the methylome) than a skin cell, even though both have the same genome. This is how cells differentiate",
"You can think of the DNA of a cell as a large TextBook. Most actual TextBooks end up covered in post-it notes, pencil margin notes, etc.\n\nA skin cell will have large sections marked with \"Ignore this\" in the margin, and a post-it note bookmarking a page all about how to make skin proteins.\n\nIt's not that the skin cell doesn't have all the DNA, it's just been marked as stuff to ignore (using DNA / histone methylattion) and certain sections have been marked as really important (with transcription factors bound to the DNA).\n\nIt inherits a lot of these markings from it's parent cell, which wrote them down into the TextBook after receiving signalling molecules to do so.",
"Not all of your DNA is being read and used at once. Your body and cells all follow a soecific set if codes they can transcribe in various sections of your DNA, which results in the variety of cells you have in your body.\n\nIn most cases cells pretty much stick to a single set of orders and can't change cell type, with the only exception being stem cells.",
"Imagine your a student in a classroom, and you're assigned 3 different chapters to read. The rest of the class is splits up the remaining chapters so the book is fully read.\n\nThat's essentially what it's like to be an individual cell in the body. You have the entire book (genome), but you only read (express) certain chapters (genes). It's why your skin cells differ in appearance and function from your brain cells, muscle cells, etc."
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wfy6i | if flash storage is so useful, why do we still use hard drives? | I've been trying to read up a bit on different types of storage, and I don't really get this. Flash Storage is so much more compact, and so much more resistant to water/dirt, and they don't need a power source. Why aren't they used everywhere? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/wfy6i/eli5_if_flash_storage_is_so_useful_why_do_we/ | {
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"Price-- hard drives are still more cost-effective than solid state.\n\nEngineering-- it takes time to polish these technologies and implement them reliably and effectively into a design; just because Apple was ahead of the curve doesn't mean that other companies have caught up.\n\nIt's a relatively new technology, and it's currently being implemented on a larger scale.",
"USB flash drives average $1 per gigabyte. Magnetic hard drives average 5.3 cents per gigabyte. Additionally, a magnetic hard drive is typically 2-4 times as fast as a USB flash drive, or even faster. USB flash drives also have write limitations; there are only so many times you can write to them.\n\nIf we're talking *solid state* hard drives, then those are faster than magnetic hard drives, and they cost about 81 cents a megabyte -- cheaper than USB flash, but much more expensive than magnetic. Those *do* require a power source, though.\n\nSo basically, flash storage is tougher and more resistant to water and dirt, but it's much slower and much more expensive.",
"Two other concerns:\n\n1. Size - Hard drives are designed as a series of platters (like little CDs). If you want to increase the storage of a drive, you can either increase the storage density on a platter or add additional platters. Since they're thin and relatively small, they can be stacked, and can be made to fit within the same casing. Flash drives are actual physical chips that are wired into the circuit board, so they can't be stacked. They can increase the storage density of a chip as the technology improves, but you can't really stack them as efficiently as hard drive platters, so the storage capacity increases more slowly. This is why you can find a 2TB hard drive that's the same size as a 128GB solid state drive.\n\n2. Longevity - I'll admit I don't understand this one myself, but a traditional hard drive supposedly has several orders of magnitude more read/write cycles available during its life than a solid state drive. With an SSD, if you read or write to it too many times, data sectors just die eventually and become completely unusable. Someone with more tech knowledge will have to explain why this is because I've never understood the concept behind it, I just know it's a commonly cited concern with SSDs."
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24gi19 | can you explain me what big data and data scientist are?? | Hello guys, i'm 20yo and i'm studying Information Management.Only recently we got to talk about big data and data science but to be honest i didn't really understand a lot from my teacher...
I would like someone who knows a lot about this sector to tell me a few things.
Thanks for your time. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24gi19/eli5_can_you_explain_me_what_big_data_and_data/ | {
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"Big Data just simply means an amount of data that is so large that it is hard to query and store using traditional methods (like in a relational database). \n\nA Data Scientist is usually someone who has training in statistics, math, and programming who can perform queries on various sets of data."
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4fauja | how does bacteria appear on food? | I honestly feel extra dumb trying to figure out how food simply beings to become bad in regular conditions. Is bacteria that thrives on meat and bread and cheese just hanging out in the air looking for these things? Or are they already on the food waiting for it to be edible?
Really have no idea here. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fauja/eli5_how_does_bacteria_appear_on_food/ | {
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"Mainly the air! There is shit in the air like spores. Then something can have turn bad on their own. But mostly its BC of the air. There was this microbiologist that did tests about this he put broth in a flask and it would spoil in like three days. Then he make a long curved(horizontal) neck on the flask and filled that bit with water to catch anything that might get in and the broth did not spoil. He also did a test with meat and a cork lid. \nBack in the old days they just thought flys came outta spoiled meat. This same dude put meat in a jar with a cork lid so flies could not get on it and it still spoiled. Then he used a rubber lid so air could not touch it and it took much longer to spoil. So the air has all likes of microbes. Source I failed microbiology twice, level 400 that is. A senior college class."
]
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1b11o0 | why are the household incomes of most affluent neighboorhoods (avg. $2million dollar homes) so low? | Most of these places have an average household income of 150,000. While that is high... how could people afford the mortgage payments? Do they have a huge downpayment from their parent's homes?
2 Million dollar homes, with a 20% downpayment would probably require a 600,000 household income | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b11o0/eli5why_are_the_household_incomes_of_most/ | {
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" > 2 Million dollar homes, with a 20% downpayment would probably require a 600,000 household income\n\nThat's way overestimating what would be necessary to afford such a house.\n\nUsing your numbers, that's a $400k deposit and a $1.6m mortgage. \nAssuming a 30-year mortgage and ~4% interest, the total annual payments on the house are ~$120k. \nAdd on $20k for living expenses and you need your income after tax to be ~$140k.\n\nAccording to the [US Income Tax Calculator](_URL_0_) you would make that much money with ~$200k annual salary. And you could save up for the deposit in around 3 and a half years.\n\nNow, the people making $150k a year would just have to save up more (or receive more inheritance) to afford a larger deposit (~$800k), but if they do have this, then they can happily afford a $2m home on that sort of salary.",
"As well as the other answers, it's also worth pointing out that these probably aren't their owners first houses.\n\nUntil 2008, properly prices increased at a fast rate.\n\nThat means you could have bought your first property for $150k, with a 20% deposit and a $120k mortgage. Ten years later, it might have been worth $300k, and with less than $100k left on the mortgage, that gives you a $200k deposit on your next house.\n\nRepeat a couple of times, and you've soon got a large deposit for an expensive house.\n\nThis is why it's known as a \"property *ladder*\". Of course it's been much harder to climb the ladder since 2008, because house prices haven't been rising like they used to."
]
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[
"http://us.thetaxcalculator.net/"
],
[]
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|
453x60 | how do super delegates work in the democratic party? how does my vote trickle up...if it does at all? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/453x60/eli5_how_do_super_delegates_work_in_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"czuyzyq",
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"So, there are delegates to the national convention. For the Democratic party, there will be 4,764 voting delegates.\n\nMost of these are required to vote based on the results of the primaries. That's where your vote comes in.\n\nAbout 20% of the delegates, though, are superdelegates. They are senior party officials and elected officeholders. They get to vote for anyone they want at the convention, no matter how the primary went in their state.\n\nThe regular delegates are bound to their candidate for the first round of voting. If someone gets a majority vote, they are the nominee. If not, the delegates are released and they can vote however they want -- but this hasn't happened in a very, very long time. In modern political history, someone has always gotten a majority from the primaries, and won in the first round at the convention.",
"Okay, so here's how it works - when a state has a primary, the results of that primary determine which candidate is awarded delegates (the ordinary, non-super kind). The campaign picks people they trust (the hardcore volunteers) to be their delegates, go to the convention, and vote for that candidate at the convention. \n\nSuperdelegates are democratic party VIPs who can go to the convention and vote for whomever they want. They don't have to be picked by any campaign. They just go and vote. \n\nIt's very undemocratic and designed specifically to prevent an insurgent candidate from being able to beat the establishment's preference. "
]
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[],
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||
2pvhah | what makes fighting and destroying the taliban such a difficult task? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pvhah/eli5_what_makes_fighting_and_destroying_the/ | {
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"Ask yourself a reverse question. What makes it so difficult to get rid of fervently religious Republicans out of American politics?\n\nThat's because they are not some lone nutjobs but enjoy significant support among large groups of like-minded individuals who perceive the world in a specific way. Such people identify threats and goals collectively and coalesce together in a political formation\n\nThe [Taliban](_URL_0_) are not a rag-tag band of terrorists but **actual people** who chose a radical form of Islam because of their cultural, linguistic and economic conditions and who perceive US political and military interventionism as a threat. They also perceive US-backed governments and the pre-Taliban government in Afghanistan as incompetent or dangerous. So they get together and either fight it or support -actively or not - those who do.\n\nTalib is a name people in America use both for people who formally call themselves that and those who only seem - to Americans - like they would.\n\nNow the taliban probably too have a name for Americans who support bombing their countries and those who seem like they would.\n\nThe difference is that those people in America have the backing of the richest and most powerful governent and military in history. The people in Afghanistan have goats.\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talibe"
]
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||
6l8fol | when a person gets shot (say in the hand) and the bullet goes all the way through, how does that wound heal? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6l8fol/eli5_when_a_person_gets_shot_say_in_the_hand_and/ | {
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"djrvsde"
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"text": [
" > Would the flesh just grow back?\n\nLet us assume a hole is poked through one side of flesh to the other. Yes, the flesh would grow back and the process would be greatly aided by forcing the sides of the wound to touch with things like stitches."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
239fq1 | why do some metals set off detectors at airports? while other metals eg. buttons/implants don't | Is it the actual material or the bulk of it that sets off the detector?
Also how do people who use metal walking aids eg. wheelchairs/crutches pass through? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/239fq1/eli5_why_do_some_metals_set_off_detectors_at/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgurpey",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Most metal detectors use disruptions in a magnetic field to detect metals, which means that metals with a strong magnetic signature (nickel or iron) show up much more readily than metals with less ability to warp magnetic fields (like aluminum). Also, a lot of people with medically-necessary metals, particularly implants and the like, have a special card that declares the medical necessity of the device. They can just be wanded manually.",
"What /u/incruente said - metal detectors mostly work on magnetism, and not all metals are magnetic. \n\nIn addition to that, most of the larger \"walk through\" type detectors today are calibrated to ignore smaller objects like buttons. "
]
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[],
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|
5dbk91 | why do we see patterns everywhere | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dbk91/eli5_why_do_we_see_patterns_everywhere/ | {
"a_id": [
"da3anes",
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"text": [
"Patterning arises from contrast. Contrast differentiates things.\n\nWhen things have the same sets of contrasts, we recognize they are similar.\n\nSometimes we're wrong, which is why we see shapes in the dark and the clouds.\n\nThe ability to recognize contrasts (and by extension, patterns) is crucial to pretty much every we do, so we got really good at doing it.",
"There is something called gestalt theory in psychology, it's a \"theory on visual perception which attempts to explain why/how people organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied.\"\n\nThe basic premise is that your mind unconsciously breaks everything down into basic shapes (ie., circle, rectangle, triangle), and since most patterns have some geometrical element this explains why our eyes see patterns or faces in things that are randomly formed. \n\nIt's just a theory, but as a visual artist who possibly looks a little harder at their surroundings than the average person it has always made sense to me because I tend to notice things like patterns or shapes more than normal. "
]
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[],
[]
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||
4iihzp | multiverse, dark matter and string theory. how are they related? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4iihzp/eli5_multiverse_dark_matter_and_string_theory_how/ | {
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"score": [
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"text": [
"They are all areas of theoretical physics. To my knowledge there isn't much more of a connection than that.",
"you want an ELI5 on 3 separate fields of theoretical physics? what is your current understanding and i shall try to fill some knowledge gaps"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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||
3d48oo | why do trains have seats that face each other and not have all the seats face in direction? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d48oo/eli5_why_do_trains_have_seats_that_face_each/ | {
"a_id": [
"ct1m55n"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Passenger trains tend to have locomotives at both ends, so they go in both directions. If all seats faced forward, you would have to turn the entire train around for the return journey and trains have very big turning circles. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
20edb8 | with cigarettes being so expensive while costing little to actually produce, why isn't there a huge black market for cigarettes? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20edb8/eli5_with_cigarettes_being_so_expensive_while/ | {
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"text": [
"There is.\n\nExample, in the UK, people can go to France and buy tobacco \"duty free\". There is a personal allowance, but many people (some who don't even smoke), buy as much as they can and then sell it to friends etc.\n\nGo into any pub around the coast and you will see a lot of tobacco related products with non-English labelling.",
"Probably because anyone who gives a crap can already buy bulk tobacco much, much more cheaply and roll their own.",
"Well, where do you get cheap cigarettes to establish the black market?\n\nBasically, a black market usually exists to provide goods that are scarce or illegal, not plentiful but expensive which is the case with tobacco. That said, there is a substantial underground market in Canada, due to the lack of tarriffs on tobacco on native reservations.",
"It is a big issue here in New York City, where with taxes, a pack of cigarettes cost in excess of $14.\n\nThe \"black market\" typically consists of:\n\n1. Cigarettes that have been brought into NYC from elsewhere without taxes being applied (for example, travelling to Virginia where there are few state taxes on cigarettes, loading a truck up with cartons, and then driving it to NYC and selling to corner stores).\n\n2. Actual counterfeit cigarettes that are manufactured in China to look exactly like popular American brands. \n\n_URL_0_\n",
"Black markets traditionally work the other way (except when you're talking about a black market selling stolen goods). Let me explain:\n\nWhen there is limited supply (or legally prohibited supply) of a given product, a *black market* commonly grows in its place to provide the item to the consumer (to fill the *demand* in supply and demand lingo). When that happens, the black market provides products that are otherwise unavailable and does so at a *higher* price. \n\nWith cigarettes, though, we have the opposite problem. There is ample supply. There are cigarettes everywhere. They're expensive, and heavily taxed; but there is no shortage of availability. There's no incentive for the cigarette black market while there is ample supply. If cigarettes became illegal, I have no doubt there would be a **huge** black market for cigarettes, but lacking that, why take the risk? \n\nWhen supply decreases, black market ROI (return on investment) increases. Put another way -- if I'm going to break the law to do it, there better be money in it. Nobody wants to take the risk involved so that they can offer a *lower cost* product.\n\n(The exception, of course, is *stolen* goods, which operate in the opposite mold. Since there was no cost of production and a potential risk in posession, the black market has an incentive to move their stolen goods as quickly as possible. Since any money paid is profit, any price seems viable, and prices well below market price are the norm in a stolen goods market.)\n\nTL;DR - Not enough reward for the risk."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://nypost.com/2010/07/27/counterfeit-smokes-unchecked-growing-in-ny/"
],
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||
2chy2q | how do centrifuges work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2chy2q/eli5_how_do_centrifuges_work/ | {
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"text": [
"The liquid to be separated is placed in a container that is rotated at high speed. Because of centrifugal force, the heavier materials are thrown out farther from the center of rotation than are the lighter materials, thus separating them.",
"Centrifuges or centrifugal force?",
"If you leave a fluid sitting for a long time then the force of gravity will eventually allow the compounds to settle in layers, heavier on bottom to lighter on top. \n\nA centrifuge speeds up the process by replacing the weak force gravity with a stronger centrifugal force (pointing away from the center) by spinning the liquid rapidly. \n\nAnytime something is moving it has inertia. A heavy compound and a light compound can travel at the same speed, but because of the mass difference they have differing inertias. Spinning something is to constantly change its course, which acts against its inertia to continue straight (centrifugal force). Thus in a spinning centrifuge the liquid compounds at any point are traveling at the same speed, but those with more inertia and mass, since they're linked, push past the compounds with less inertia away from the center. "
]
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[],
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||
3t0xnd | if you have cipa (the inability to experience physical pain), can you still experience physical pleasure? | CIPA is the inability to experience physical pain or temperature sensations due to a disruption of the nervous system. Given that many physically pleasurable sensations seem to be based off of mild pain (scratching your back), relief of pain (massage/ sitting down after a long run), or temperature (a hot bath on a cold day), would that person still experience physical pleasure? If not the aforementioned, what about the sensation of lightly running your fingers across someone's skin? Would they experience sexual pleasure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t0xnd/eli5_if_you_have_cipa_the_inability_to_experience/ | {
"a_id": [
"cx2ldmx"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Saw no one had chimed in but I got curious and did a little digging. I found this from some yahoo thread asking the same thing several years ago:\n\n\"Yes. CIPA is a genetic mutation which prevents the development of cells which carry the electrical signals for pain, heat and cold to the brain. Pleasure is mainly derived from the body releasing dopamine, not from your nerves. For instance, when someone you have strong feelings for touches your arm, its not the touching that makes you feel good, its the fact that its someone special, your body releases dopamine as a way trying to keep you calm.\n\nSexual pleasure is from a stimulation of a large cluster of nerves in a single spot. CIPA does not affect this, just like it doesn't affect pressure or touch. Having CIPA does not mean you are numb, you just have the inability to feel pain, heat or cold.\""
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2330ul | . why does it seem like the u.s. sends so many more troops to war/conflict than the rest of n.a.t.o? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2330ul/eli5_why_does_it_seem_like_the_us_sends_so_many/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgswfv6",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"there is few reasons, two biggest are:\n\n- most conflicts where USA is involved, is caused directly by USA (for instance iraq and afghanistan), so it's mostly their responsibility.\n\n- USA have the highest number of troops so basic proportion is the reason.",
"As a European I must admit; When (if) Russia starts invading European countries we'll all be looking at America to help us",
"Other NATO members either do not have the capability to engage in sustained engagements and/or they lack the political will to properly fund or commit their forces to military engagements. To give you some perspective every NATO member voted to engage in Libya yet only half contributed *anything*.\n\n"
]
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[],
[],
[]
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||
3b6w6e | how do prank commercials work? do they use actors? surely risky stunts would involve huge liability concerns. | Was discussing this on /r/videos on a prank ad, and have done some googling to find one case of a woman suing Saatchi & Saatchi for (I assume) emotional distress after being made to think she was being stalked. So I'm sure it's not a simple blanket rule...
Are there any redditors who've worked on these kind of commercials that can help explain (like I'm 5) how it works with liability, waivers, and release forms? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3b6w6e/eli5_how_do_prank_commercials_work_do_they_use/ | {
"a_id": [
"csje09m"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"I don't even want to imagine the shit storm that business affairs went through for this... \n\nIt looks like the campaign you're mentioning, the woman never appeared in any commercial. It was a targeted email campaign directed only at her (and others who visited the site). They wouldn't need releases in this case but the threatening nature of the campaign certainly would put S & S in a tight spot. I wonder what they were thinking.\n\nFor a prank commercial, they would definitely need releases up front which would make the prank not to convincing. If they did try to get releases after the prank... Well I guess they would just have to cross their fingers and hope that prankee is a good sport. Getting paid helps though. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
24ijs2 | why are social security cards printed on regular paper? | This has always bothered me. I'm supposed to hang onto this thing for my entire life but its printed on a flimsy piece of paper. And what about fraud prevention? Wouldn't it make more sense to be printed like a drivers license so it is more durable and has security features? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24ijs2/eli5_why_are_social_security_cards_printed_on/ | {
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"text": [
"My best guess is it was designed to be destroyed. \n\nTo better explain: With your driver's license, there's a picture, a birthday, an address, and defining features (height, weight, eye color, etc.). Thus, the chances of someone being able to use that card and say they're you is minuscule. So if you lose it, it's safe to say you're okay (though you should NEVER assume. Always report to the DMV you've lost your license. They'll tag the number)\n\nWith your social security card (which you're issued at birth), there's none of these. No one knows how tall you'll be, what color your eyes will be, what you'll weigh, or where you'll live when you're born, do a social security card just can't have that identifiable information on it. It has your name and a number. Since most jobs and businesses accept a social security card as proof of identity, it would suck major balls for someone to find your card and proceed to use it as you. By making the card out of flimsy paper, you lessen the chances that someone will find a perfectly intact social security card on the street (as water would ruin it) or easily find it rummaging through papers (it doesn't feel like a plastic card).\n\nAlso, it helps guarantee you'll protect it. That social security card and the attached number are YOU. Would you carry that around in your wallet all day like you would a driver's license? I'd hope not. With a license which expires every 5-10 years, getting a new one is easy. With a piece of card stock meant to last you your entire life, making it flimsy by design actually helps ensure its safety. ",
"The social security card isn't used like a drivers licence, where you need it on you at all times. Also, the argument could be made that if this is required for all people to have, then it cannot be expensive, so why not paper?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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|
67tj89 | why are html, css, and javascript all separate languages? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67tj89/eli5_why_are_html_css_and_javascript_all_separate/ | {
"a_id": [
"dgt5nal"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"First of all HTML and CSS are not programming languages. If you want to be able to do any programming within a browser's web page you need javascript. This includes everything where you want to say IF this, then do that. HTML is the way you format your page. For instance < b > Some text < /b > make 'some text' in a bold font. CSS is a way of uniformly applying styles to a web page or site. It could for instance change the behavior of that bold tag to always be in a large font."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4nbzoa | how is it 'impossible' to be racist tonwards white people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nbzoa/eli5_how_is_it_impossible_to_be_racist_tonwards/ | {
"a_id": [
"d42l2rc"
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"text": [
"When white people experience racism, it usually has to do with a person of color's biases, mistrust, dislike, or anxieties about said white person usually learned because of how they've been mistreated by white people in their past. People of color understandably experience anger at their position in society, and it's often times seen as aggression and as reverse racism. When a person of color experiences racism, its almost always because a person in a position of power using their biases, mistrust, dislike, or anxieties about black people in a way that hurts them, physically or socially. I can't say I've ever seen a white person call a person of color racist for anything more than them being angry and unwelcoming towards them. Comparing the two experiences and saying they're the same is unreasonable. It's akin to saying that a first degree burn and a third degree burn should receive the same treatment or else its discrimination. Both burns are burns. But one burn will be painless within a couple of hours, while the other leaves deep and serious injury, and if left untreated could cause death or serious handicap."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
amjntq | how do binoculars work | I recently wanted to buy some binoculars. How do they work and how much do they zoom in on an Image. In case i want to recognise somebody from 200m away | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/amjntq/eli5_how_do_binoculars_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"efmfc80",
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"text": [
"Common binoculars are about 7X or 8X, so a person at 200m would look like they were 25m - 30m away. \n\nExcept that binoculars can't compensate for atmospheric distortion. You know that heat-wave shimmering look you see on a summer highway? There will be that kind of distortion on a figure at 200m, that you can't magnify away.\n\nBut you should be able to recognize a person at that range.",
"Binoculars contain at least two lenses. These lenses bend (refract) the light in such a way that two parallel rays of light that enter the binocular on the far side will be further apart (but still parallel) when they leave the binocular on the eye side. This means that objects appear larger when looking through the binocular. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is with a [Keplerian refracting telescope](_URL_0_), which uses two lenses. In such a telescope, the magnification depends on the ratio of the focal lengths of the two lenses. More advanced binoculars might have more lenses to correct for optical aberrations (e.g. color fringes), but magnification will work the same. For a telescope/binocular with 2x magnification, a distant object will appear half as far away. For 3x magnification, the distance will appear to be a third, and so on. I don't know how far a person can be away to still recognize them, but this relationship should allow you to compare binoculars. Some binoculars might have a \"zoom\" feature, which means that their magnification can be changed."
]
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[],
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refracting_telescope"
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87smkb | why can't developers easily make their program run on all oss? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/87smkb/eli5_why_cant_developers_easily_make_their/ | {
"a_id": [
"dwf7dnt"
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"text": [
"Each OS has its own hardware architecture. This means system calls are handled differently. Also language support. eg Windows and Mac apps are written in different languages (often) as are iOS and Android applications. Think of each OS as a species, and the application as the organs. Now imagine doing an organ transplant across species. Might be possible but its not at all easy, with a low success rate as each system is different. Get the idea?"
]
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[]
] |
||
7q68n6 | why do juices taste better after shaking them, even juices without pulp? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7q68n6/eli5_why_do_juices_taste_better_after_shaking/ | {
"a_id": [
"dsmnkco"
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"text": [
"Unless you're getting it right from the fruit, most juice is pasteurized. (Both from concentrate, and not). This basically kills the flavour, so an additive is put in. This typically separates when sitting, so shaking disperses the flavour additive evenly throughout, making it taste 'better' than if it'd been sitting."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
27s8jw | what's going on with netflix and verizon? | What are people so upset about that Verizon (and other major internet providers) is doing, and why is Netflix joining? I feel like I'm constantly reading tech people complain about the internet providers, but I have no idea what they are so upset about. Thanks in advance! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27s8jw/eli5_whats_going_on_with_netflix_and_verizon/ | {
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"text": [
"Verizon has a lot of pipes. Netflix traffic uses a large portion of those pipes, because HD video. [A US Appeals Court](_URL_0_) recently ruled that Verizon can charge Netflix more because it uses more pipes, which makes a lot of tech people upset, because it allows ISPs (the guys with the pipes) to decide what content is worth having on the internet. Verizon went into negotiations with Netflix for Netflix to pay them more, and during the negotiations, used mafia-like tactics to tank Netflix's speed to Verizon customers, as if to demonstrate what they could do to Netflix if they wanted. Netflix capitulated to Verizon's demands for more money, but retaliated by putting a message on Verizon Netflix subscriber's screens telling them every time that Verizon's network was slow enough to reduce video quality. Verizon got butthurt over this and sent a mean letter to Netflix threatening to sue for defamation. ",
"Think of the internet as the highway. \n\nYou pay to use the highway. Netflix also pays to use the highway. You pay more for a high speed internet connection (the fast lanes). Verizon is trying to get Netflix to pay more to use those fast last, even though they are already paying, AND we are already paying.",
"What you are referring to is net neutrality. To explain this better let's use something more tangible than the Internet.\n\nThink of it like a toll road, you can travel on free and uncontested highways most of your trip, but the only way to get into your neighborhood is a toll road. That road can now realistically not only charge whatever they want they can also choose what cars can use an ezpass (quick lane). \nIn larger cities there may be two or even three toll roads, creating competition, but in most areas of America there is just the one, and it is over priced and too small. The ISPs are the toll roads here, and Netflix traffic is the giant semi trucks using that highway. What is making Netflix upset is that Verizon and Comcast refuse to upgrade their toll road and you'll booths to handle more semi trucks. Verizon and Comcast are upset because before Netflix's semi trucks began raking up all the toll booths no one really noticed they were cheap and their toll roads sick as much as they do. They are claiming it is up to Netflix to fund the expansion of their infrastructure. What makes all the people mad is that despite Netflix agreeing to these ridiculous fees (and making their customers pay more to cover this) all Verizon did was give ez passes to Netflix trucks. So traffic is a little better, but still slow. \n\nSee Verizon, TWC, Comcast and other service providers are known as last mile carriers. This is because they simply connect your house to the larger distribution networks, only transporting the last mile of traffic from its start to its end. They own these last mile cables though and as of now, in America at least, there is little legal ground to fight this. What most consumers would like is for ISPs to be regulated such as phone companies are, as a utility and not as a service. This would set the standard that broadband access is a Necessity in this country, not a luxury. ",
"But if each of those 10 sites were using as much bandwidth as Netflix the ISPs would care and would go after them. This is the true argument about net neutrality, the ISPs should not be allowed to decide what traffic is more important or less of a burden on their infrastructure. ",
"Internet providers are trying to create two different levels of service for internet connectivity, one for companies that the internet providers approve of and one that the internet providers don't approve of; most of this approval comes from how much these companies pay the internet providers.\n\nA lot of people and companies, including Netflix, are worried that, by allowing internet providers to choose which websites load faster, they are encouraging or discouraging the use of those websites. In Netflix's case, an internet provider may slow down the internet speed from Netflix to promote a rival entertainment package. Since there is little competition for internet providers, people are worried that this gives too much power to internet providers as this would allow internet providers to pick the winners and the losers instead of the market.",
"Well I'll play devil's advocate and write this as though I'm VZ.\n\nSo VZ spends billions of dollars on wires, and fiber optic cabling across the country and I sell access to this infrastructure to people. I make assumptions about people's usage that are, on average, correct. A few heavy users come in and single handily use what I expected 10 or 100 people to use so I want to charge them more. Since no one wants to pay more and because the capacity of the system is finite at any given time, I might decide that rather than slow everyone down proportionately, I'm going to slow down the heaviest users more than the lighter users. Since Netflix traffic represents up to 30% of peak internet traffic by itself, that's who I target for slow down. Netflix's service relies on on demand uncongested speeds so when they get slowed down, it hurts them a lot more than if loading wikipedia or reddit is slowed down so they make a publicity stunt blaming me for the service being slower. "
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42wgji | why don't we use hydrophobic coatings in showers so that we don't need to clean them? | Would it stop them getting mould and mildew? What about soap? Would the floor become too slippery to stand on when wet? This seems like a no brainer. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42wgji/eli5_why_dont_we_use_hydrophobic_coatings_in/ | {
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"I'm not very sure of this.\n\nWhen you apply a layer of hydrophobic coating on the floor, and the later gets wet, the water itself would form a layer over the coating. So yeah, would be too slippery to be practical.",
"I use Rain-X or equivalent on the shower glass and it certainly gives a longer time before the limescale builds up to the point where I think \"Must do something about this.\".",
"Hydrophobic coatings wash off with soap.\n\nSuper-hydrophobic coatings rely on delicate micro or nanostructures, which are coated with a regular hydrophobic coating. They'd quickly get crushed during normal use. Their mechanism of operation relies on surface tension, so they can't repel soapy water, which then dissolves the coating.",
"What all the other's have said, plus the risk of water damage, should water somehow manage to get behind the hydrophobic layer and have no way to escape."
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bjbcgh | how do you distinguish artificial diamonds from natural? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bjbcgh/eli5_how_do_you_distinguish_artificial_diamonds/ | {
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"You don't. The literal only difference between the two is that, by law, artificial diamonds have to have \"lab made\" engraved on the stone (usually on the girdle). \n\nUsually lab-made stones are better in terms of clarity and color, are larger, have more fire, and are all-around better than mined stones.",
"First off, I'm going to define some terms to make sure we're on the same side when it comes to the word \"artificial\".\n\n & #x200B;\n\nGemstones (rare, pretty looking rocks like diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc) are be categorized this way:\n\n* Natural - came out of the ground, cut to look nice and sold pretty much as it (except for being cut)\n* Genuine - came out of the ground, treated in some way (like adding color improvement), cut, and sold\n* Synthetic - made in a lab, but chemically the exact same structure as the gemstone that came out of the ground, STILL A REAL DIAMOND! JUST DIDN'T COME OUT OF THE GROUND, still very valuable, but about 25% less than natural diamond\n* Imitation - fake gemstones, (made from glass, cubic zirconia, plastic, etc.) has very low actual value, still legal to sell as long as you tell the customer it is imitation\n\n & #x200B;\n\nWays you can tell cubic zirconia from a natural or synthetic diamond:\n\n1. It will not be as hard as a real\n2. It will not have the same sparkle when you shine a light on it\n3. It will look completely flawless (real diamonds are not)\n4. It will usually be completely colorless (real diamonds are not)\n5. If someone is trying to pass it off as real, they will usually sell it below market value\n\n & #x200B;\n\nWays you can tell a natural diamond from a synthetic, this is a lot harder and you could not know for sure\n\nusing the naked eye. Synthetic diamonds will be nearly flawless in inclusions (little imperfections in the structure) ,\n\nand color. But still, some natural diamonds are like this.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe only way to know for sure is to have it sent to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) for analysis. They can usually tell by looking at the color and inclusions in the diamond. In addition, synthetic diamonds are tiny etchings on them that are invisible to the naked eye saying that they are synthetic. You need special tools to see this though. Also, synthetic diamonds are categorized.\n\n & #x200B;\n\ntl;dr: You can't tell a lab grown diamond by yourself. You have to have it sent off to be looked at. However, you can usually tell a cubic zirconia by yourself if you know what to look for.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nForgot to mention, another way a consumer can easily tell a real diamond from cubic zirconia is by using a diamond tester: [_URL_1_](_URL_0_)"
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dfz76u | how do pipes not burst when you turn off a faucet. shouldnt all that stopped up water build up pressure and explode? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dfz76u/eli5_how_do_pipes_not_burst_when_you_turn_off_a/ | {
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"Since nothing's pumping water inside your house to the faucets, the pressure at the faucet isn't going get any higher than the pressure at the inlet to your house (ignoring the effects of gravity). Once the two are at equilibrium, there is no net flow of water (assuming no leaks).",
"* Imagine a large tank of water with a spigot at the bottom.\n* When the spigot is closed, nothing happens.\n* The tank doesn't explode from pressure.\n* When you open the spigot, the water starts to flow out of it.\n* When you close it again, the water stops and nothing explodes. \n* The water system in your home, in most cases, works exactly the same way, just on a very very large scale.",
"There is actually a phenomenon known as a [water hammer](_URL_0_) that can cause pipes to rupture. \n\nI'm not an expert on the subject and can't give you a proper ELI5, but a section of the linked Wikipedia article titled \"mitigating measures\" should help explain things.",
"With most modern community water systems; water is collected, processed, and delivered to your house often with a combination of gravity, pumps, and pressure regulators. \nOnce at your house, it *should* pass through another pressure regulator. Your household plumbing is designed to take a certain amount of pressure before soldiered joints or plastic couplings would break free or pipes would burst. Your inlet regulator is designed to keep your pressure below that threshold, which also helps keep your taps, toilets appliances etc from being over powered and ruined. \nWhen you shut off the tap, the water is stopped, this sends a small shock wave to the inlet regulator which then restricts the water entering the building before it can add extra pressure to the pipes. \nSince water is non-compressible you may notice a momentary jolting sound, called water hammering. That is the result of the minor increase of pressure “hammering” your pipes, but not hard enough to immediately blow your pipes. \nAs pipes age, particularly copper pipes, this becomes more of a problem because they have less strength to hold the extra pressure. \nIn modern times, devices have been included to lessen the pressure on plumbing systems, such as an air chamber at the termination of lines to high flow devices such as kitchen sinks. This air chamber allows the extra force of the water to be absorbed by a cushion of air, which can compress in the end of the line. Mechanical devices have also been introduced to plumbing systems to to replace air chambers due to unreliability. Another addition, hose bibs with pressure release valves, these vent extra water to the out side of your house, for example you have your hose connected and a spray gun or valve at the end, with the water flowing full speed. When you suddenly let go of the handle or close the valve, the extra jolt of water is released at your hose bib and sprays to the ground or surrounding area. \n\nWith the combination of some or all of these devices, maybe others as well, assuming they are properly functioning, there is little chance your pipes will burst when shutting a tap off, again unless your pipes are old and fragile.",
"That phenomenon is called a water hammer and despite what some people are posting is an actual problem. \n\n [_URL_1_](_URL_0_) \n\nYou are absolutely correct is noting that the momentum of the fluid will cause a pressure spike. \n\nOne way to mitigate this is with a water hammer arrestor: [_URL_2_](_URL_2_)",
"1. Water is incompressible under normal circumstances.\n\n2. Your water system is pressurized to a certain pressure, and the pumps/gravity in the system won't be able to supply pressure in excess of that pressure.\n\n3. The pipes in your water system are designed to be able to withstand the pressure your water system can deliver.\n\n\nNow, the water hammer phenomenon people are discussing is something that happens with flowing water is very suddenly shut off. The momentum of the water, suddenly hitting a closed valve, can cause the pressure in the pipes to experience a spike. This could cause a broken pipe if it is high enough.\n\n\nWater hammers can be prevented by several methods. The first is to slowly, rather than suddenly, turn off the valve. This gives the water time to decelerate out of the valve and minimizes the pressure spike. The second is to install smaller pipes that minimize the volume of water in the pipe, to limit the inertia of the flowing water. You can also install pressure regulators to your home water supply to prevent it from receiving excess pressure from the water mains. Water hammer arrestor devices can also be installed, which stop a water hammer if it does happen.",
"Generally speaking, there are three kinds of physical energy stored in a fluid: Pressure, Flow and Elevation. I'll go through them in context of our faucet.\n\nThe elevation energy of our faucet and source does not change regardless of the faucet being open or closed. This is typically the energy used to push water through your faucet out of a water tower or reservoir.\n\nThe pressure energy on our faucet is mostly negligible as well, as no pressure can be built in a system exposed to atmosphere. While some systems include some form of pressure element, the output of the faucet is not pressurized per say. This is still important for later, so don't count it out yet.\n\nThe flow energy is the energy you are familiar with, and is directly converted from the elevation energy aforementioned. It's a combination of the velocity the water is being pushed and the mass of water being moved.\n\nNow earlier, I said there's no pressure in the pipes. That's only technically true: The elevation of the reservoir is converted into pressure in the pipes when the faucets are closed: Around 40 PSI in a properly regulated system.\n\nWhen you open the faucet, that pressure energy is pushed into flow energy, as you would expect since water comes out with mass and speed. Now we're done, and we close the faucet.\n\nThat flow energy doesn't disappear, and is pushed back into the pressure energy in the piping system. This is in addition to the elevation energy from the water tower that normally goes into the system. This is the effect referred to as \"Water Hammer\", as everything in your water system gets slammed by that pressure spike. In an unprepared system conveying significant mass and velocity of water, this can spike to 100+ PSI, doing exactly what you fear: Damaging fittings, loosening connectors, even eventually bursting a pipe.\n\nIt is however, entirely manageable: The simplest trick is to simply out-engineer it: If you build your pipes to handily ignore 100 PSI (Or include a regulator to put the general pressure well inside safe margins), you don't even need to be concerned. In many cases however, fragile components are unavoidable, so instead, you add something to \"catch\" the shock. While water cannot be compressed, Air chambers or a membrane capped spring can be, and are typically installed near faucets to catch the pressure spike.\n\nYou can even exploit this effect in a device called a hydraulic ram: You let flow energy build until it slams shut a valve, and use the resulting pressure spike to push water up through a pipe. [_URL_0_](_URL_1_)"
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144t0n | why is the discovery of penicillin considered the greatest medical achievement of all time? | I've got to do a project about this and could really use another person's take on the matter. What is it about penicillin? What does it really do? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/144t0n/eli5_why_is_the_discovery_of_penicillin/ | {
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"[Penicillin](_URL_1_) is an anti-bacterial drug. Bacteria are tiny one-celled organisms. Many kinds are harmless (or even beneficial), but some kinds cause serious diseases. Penicillin's working mechanism is complicated, but basically it fights diseases by getting into the bacteria and stopping them from building new cell walls. After that, either the bacteria break down on their own (some kinds need to constantly rebuild their walls or die), or your body's immune system has a much easier time killing them. Taking penicillin (or any other anti-bacterial drug) is pretty indiscriminate, so it also kills off harmless bacteria, and beneficial [bacteria in your digestive tract](_URL_8_). Also, anti-bacterials do nothing against diseases caused by viruses.\n\nPenicillin was [the first drug of its kind ](_URL_3_), which meant that when it was new, it was the only way to cure many kinds of infections. Some of those infections had been considered death sentences until then, so penicillin was hailed as a life-saver. This was especially true during World War II, when penicillin was first used in a big way. Only the US and UK had it, and it saved thousands of lives that would otherwise have been lost to infected battle wounds. Penicillin also cured other diseases that are less lethal, but used to carry huge social stigma. \n\n[Syphilis](_URL_7_) causes blindness in the children born to infected women, and will (after many years) eventually drive you insane (and then kill you). Also, syphilis is spread by sexual contact, so being infected carried a huge stigma -- some states required blood tests before you could get married, because of the risk of blind children. Being cured of syphilis by penicillin meant you could still get married and have a family, instead of being a social outcast.\n\nAnother big disease changed by penicillin was [tuberculosis (TB).](_URL_0_) TB is a crippling lung infection that will kill you eventually, and is highly contagious (transmitted by coughing). Poor people who caught it sometimes wound up infecting their whole family. Richer people who caught it would be sent to live in isolation at a sanitarium, which was like a cross between a resort and a hospital. Penicillin absolutely cured people of TB, and gave them their lives back.\n\nBoth TB and Syphilis still exist today, though. They weren't wiped out by penicillin, and neither were any other infectious diseases. In fact, while penicillin worked like a miracle for a while, the bacteria that survived it were ones that were less susceptible to it. They reproduced, and eventually all the bacteria left were penicillin resistant. Penicillin gradually stopped working, and today is almost entirely useless. That's evolution at work -- the bacteria evolved to survive in a new environment, one that had penicillin. When that happened, doctors had to invent new drugs to replace penicillin. These worked in other ways, attacking other aspects of the bacteria, and the bacteria were again caught defenseless. But again, the bacteria that did survive were the resistant ones, and the diseases evolved. Every antibiotic drug \"trains\" the bacteria to survive it, and becomes useless in time. Today, [antibiotic resistance](_URL_2_) is a serious problem in medicine. Some bacterial infections, like [MRSA](_URL_5_) get into hospitals and infect patients who are in hospital for other reasons.\n\nI'd strongly recommend against calling penicillin \"the single greatest medical achievement of all time\". For one thing, it's a needless superlative: lots of things are really great, and none are perfect. For another, it won't hold up by objective measures, like most lives saved. [The eradication of smallpox](_URL_6_) is considered a biggie among medical advancements. Smallpox was a huge and brutal killer, and vaccines eradicated the entire disease -- it no longer exists as a disease. Another big vaccine triumph was polio. The vaccine for polio was hailed at the time it was invented, because polio was a big killer/crippler of small children. Today, [polio is almost eradicated](_URL_4_), but it still hangs on in a few places.\n\nIf you wanted to point to the single invention that did the most to reduce harm and suffering from disease, it's got to be indoor plumbing. Toilets that lead to sewer systems, and clean drinking water right from the faucet are great conveniences, and obviously aren't medical inventions. But they've saved more lives than medicine ever has."
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eradication_of_polio",
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox",
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_flora"
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2hu1tw | why sometimes my phone charges at 60% an hour and other times of can charge as slow as 17% an hour | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hu1tw/eli5_why_sometimes_my_phone_charges_at_60_an_hour/ | {
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"There are two answers:\n\nWhen you charge an idle battery with two different transformers, one of 5 Watts and one of 12 Watts, then the 12 Watts one will go faster. So it depends on the power of the transformer you charge it with.\n\nThe next thing is about what the phone is doing. If it is really idle (i.e. off), then it will go the fastest. If it is mostly idle (nothing running on it but the screen is on), then it will be slower than that. If it isn't idle at all (you have some game running in the background, 3G/4G is constantly doing things etc), then a large part of the charged amount will be immediately used for that and thus less will be used for increasing the charge level on the battery.\n",
"Are you charging with a USB cable from your computer when it charges slowly?"
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cuqf91 | how/why is there a squeaking sound created when you rub your finger on your teeth? | The title says it all | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cuqf91/eli5_howwhy_is_there_a_squeaking_sound_created/ | {
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"the friction between your finger and the enamel causes vibrations, because the microscopic surface of your tooth and your finger are fairly (relatively speaking) but not completely smooth it's a high pitched squeak, but if you imagine rubbing 2 very rough surfaces together like stones against concrete, you would get a very low pitched sound\n\ntwo completely smooth surfaces would not vibrate at all when rubbed together"
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17ufb8 | computer servers | how do servers work with so many CPU's? What is RAID? what is the difference between a desktop CPU and a server CPU? Can you just hook up a couple of desktop computers and make a server? What are servers bad at? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17ufb8/eli5computer_servers/ | {
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"Servers are just specialized computers. They are good at providing services to other computers.\n\n > how do servers work with so many CPU's? \n\nThe CPUs in a server are designed to better communication with other CPUs. So, you can use more of them at once. Also, they can physically hold more chips.\n\n > What is RAID?\n\nRAID is a method of bundling multiple hard drives together to get speed improvements, reliability improvements or both. For example, if you have 3 hard drives in a RAID 5 array, any one of those hard drives can fail and you won't lose your data.\n\n > what is the difference between a desktop CPU and a server CPU?\n\nThe primary difference is that server CPUs are designed to work together.\n\n > Can you just hook up a couple of desktop computers and make a server?\n\nYou could use a standard desktop computer to provide the services of a server but it wouldn't do it as good as specialized hardware. The biggest difference is that a server is built to be redundant. There are usually extras of all of the critical system components in case one of them fails.\n\n > What are servers bad at?\n\nIf you sat down at a server to use as your personal computer you probably wouldn't be very happy. They are tuned to use the bulk of their power to provide services to other computers, not for the person sitting at the console. They're particularly bad at games because most servers have very basic graphics hardware."
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10hwqj | why does government take our money as taxes? why cant they just print more bills and keep it for themselves? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10hwqj/why_does_government_take_our_money_as_taxes_why/ | {
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"That would cause inflation by making money less valuable, the end result is that everyone who didn't pay those taxes now has money that is worth less than before and the economy becomes less stable. ",
"So in finance/economics there is this concept called inflation. When currency gets inflated that means it is losing its value, a dollar is still a dollar, but you can buy less stuff with it. You know how your grandparents used to say \"back in my day, bread was a nickel!\" That is a great sign of inflation. \n\nHere is how that relates to the collecting of taxes vs printing money:\n\nSo you and a friend each have some lollipops. In a stable market you could trade those lollipops for other goods. Let's say at the current exchange rate you could trade 4 lollipops for a pack of Pokemon cards. Now imagine that your friend's mom goes to the store an gets like 100 bags of lollipops, those ones you see at Halloween that have like 30 inside. Suddenly your friend has 3000 lollipops, he has so many lollipops that he can afford to buy packages of pokemon cards for 20 lollipops. Suddenly, your four lollipops don't do shit, you can't buy much with them anymore. You can however still eat them, because lollipops are delicious, thank goodness for that.\n\nAfter the first world war Germany attempted the strategy you suggested, they were forced to pay the allies a bunch of money after the war and to make the quota they printed a ton of money. This caused the value of their money to massively decrease. The old story goes that the money had so little value it was easier to just burn money than to use the money to burn firewood.",
"Another way to think about it is to compare money with gold.\n\nWhy is gold so valuable? Because it is RARE. If it was commonplace, everybody would have a lot of it, so it wouldn't be worth much to most people.\n\nSo if the government printed lots of money, and no-one paid taxes so they had lots more money, then there would be more money around. It would be less rare, and so not worth as much.\n\nSo if you wanted to trade your money for something (for example, a loaf of bread), you might have to give more money to get that bread.\n\nAs a result, if everything costs more money, but everybody has more money too, the end result would be (pretty much) the same as everyone having less money and everything also costing less.",
"First, there isn't really such a thing as \"your money.\" Money is a means of exchange that can function as a store of value, but it's really a promise more than anything. It's the promise that you will be able to acquire some good or service in the future in exchange for no longer having that promise. However, you're not the one making that promise - it's either the U.S. Treasury (for coins), or the Federal Reserve (for bills).\n\nPart of living in most modern nation-states is the government having a claim on part of the value traded whenever money changes hands. This is not the government \"taking\" *your* money; *it was never your money to begin with*.\n\nThe biggest thing to consider is how money is a \"promise\" in the first place. The \"promise\" is made good by the value supposedly created when a person manufactures goods, or provides services. It's not paper or precious metals that are valuable, but rather those things that are useful to others in their daily lives. So, the Treasury or Federal Reserve is promising that the person with the money has contributed to the country's supply of useful goods and/or services in some way in the past, and that it is a fair deal to provide your good and/or service in exchange for the money.\n\nIf another token of money, either coin or banknote, is created without a corresponding increase in the amount of useful goods and/or services, you have a sort of \"empty promise.\" With more \"empty promises,\" people will want more money in return for their goods and/or services, to ensure that it's still a fair trade. This rise in prices is \"inflation.\"\n\nThe government also provides things that are difficult to trade with every individual citizen in a fair way. One example of this is national security, where it is practically impossible to not receive its benefits while in the US, even if you do not personally want them. That's why the government makes a claim on value based on other factors, such as whenever money changes hands."
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76i668 | why is there this thorny thing on my ice cube? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/76i668/eli5_why_is_there_this_thorny_thing_on_my_ice_cube/ | {
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"\nthey are called ice spikes\nim sorry I can't explain it myself,\nbut this video will definitely do\n_URL_0_"
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1yehmf | why do big-budget movies, especially non-action ones, have such a long film shooting process? | Keep in mind I'm referring to the shooting process only, as I know how time consuming it is to create special effects in the editing phase of a movie production. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yehmf/eli5_why_do_bigbudget_movies_especially_nonaction/ | {
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"most films have a 3 month principal shooting time. Of those 3 months, they'll deal with getting areas to shoot (if outdoors) and deal with weather and municipalities and natural lighting. They may only get a few minutes of actual shooting done in a given day, and they may need to shoot that scene several times before getting a useful take.\n\nThen they have to come back and redub the audio, and may need to reshoot.",
"One factor is the number of different locations required by the script, while another factor is the length of the script (or how many scenes it has). Say a given script has 100 scenes at 30 different locations, it's most likely that a production won't shoot at more than one location per day. This is especially true if traveling to a remote location, they may switch between multiple sets if they're in a soundstage. So, figure at least one day per location, with an average of two to four scenes shot per day. Setting up the scenes is also time consuming, dressing the sets, setting the lights, positioning the camera, that can all take a couple hours to finish before they're ready to start filming. Then they will film multiple takes of that specific setup (usually starting with the widest shot first), that could take an hour or so. After that, they'll setup for the closer shots, which could include another 30-60 minutes of resetting lights and camera for each setup, then shoot multiple takes again. So, shooting just one scene, which may only be a couple minutes in length, could take three to six hours depending on how many takes (just 3 or over 30?) and how much coverage they want (just 2 camera angles or 6?).\n\n\n\nAnd with the incredibly complex coordination of lining up which locations are available when (which will determine the shooting order of the script), and then making sure all the actors, props, effects, etc. are there on each day when they're needed (\"The goats aren't showing up today? We can't shoot the goat scene!\"), sometimes it's amazing that it took *only* several months to finish principal photography for certain movies.\n\n\n\nStanley Kubrick's *Eyes* *Wide* *Shut* holds the record of longest shoot, principal photography lasted 15 months, including a stretch of 46 weeks without any breaks. There were stories of crew members getting sick and missing a couple weeks and when they came back, they were still shooting the same scene as when they left!"
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2u9ybh | do other animals go to war/commit genocide? if not, why is it a human-exclusive act? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2u9ybh/eli5_do_other_animals_go_to_warcommit_genocide_if/ | {
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"Ants have been known to go to war with other colonies. ",
"Chimpanzees have been know to fight over territory in packs, and even kill the children of rival groups."
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6vl6e1 | i know that somewhere on earth, an eclipse happens every two years. how does it not happen every single year? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6vl6e1/eli5_i_know_that_somewhere_on_earth_an_eclipse/ | {
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"The moons orbit is 5 degrees tilted off the earths orbit so they don't intersect every rotation. ",
"Solar eclipses happen two to five times per year, not once every two years. _URL_0_",
"There are always at least 2 solar eclipses within a calendar year.\n\nThey won't always be total eclipses, so they don't get as much attention. Also, many are only visible in remote locations. The next eclipse will be [February 15, 2018](_URL_0_), a kind of crappy partial eclipse that just kind of skirts Antarctica."
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1mfgu6 | how do the companies visa and master card work ? | They seemingly make cards for banks to distribute. If I get a credit card with a bank, I am borrowing the banks money with a Visa Card ? How do Visa make their money.. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mfgu6/how_do_the_companies_visa_and_master_card_work/ | {
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"Visa is what's called a payment processing company. Their job is to *facilitate* electronic funds transfers. What used to happen is when you swipe your credit card, the terminal would dial Visa's phone number and complete the transaction like a dial-up modem. Nowadays most are electronic and work via the Internet, but the philosophy is still the same. If every bank were to have their own system for processing payments, then every card reader in the world would have to have every bank's phone numbers/web addresses, encryption mechanisms, and login credentials. So instead, we use centralized payment processors so that merchants' card terminals only have to know a few people to contact (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, in most cases in the US).\n\nThe terminal transmits its own account number (so Visa knows who to send the money to), your card number, the amount of the transaction, and surely some other security-related data. Visa gets authorization from the cardholder's bank to ensure the card is still operational and has enough credit to handle the transaction. Visa then says \"okay do it\" and the money is transferred from your account to the merchant's (with the bank and Visa both keeping small fees along the way, which is how they make money even if you have a card with no annual fee and you pay it off monthly so you don't have any interest), and then Visa sends a transaction ID and confirmation number to the card terminal. The ID and confirmation number print out on the receipt for yours and the merchant's records in case you ever need to reference that particular transaction in the future."
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10ah16 | if muhammad was "just" a prophet, then why do muslims treat his persona at a level above what modern christians treat jesus christ? | Neither is "god," per se, unless you support the triumvirate belief. But I'm curious of the quid pro quo. Islam recognizes Jesus Christ if I am not mistaken. Is it a this for that agreement between Muslims and Christians to keep continuity in shared history? And why is Muhammad defended to the death yet Jesus Christ(for the most part) doesn't draw the same comparison in acts, just in words?
Much respect. Most authentic spelling I could find. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10ah16/eli5_if_muhammad_was_just_a_prophet_then_why_do/ | {
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"Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the final prophet in a long like of prophets beginning with the roots of Judaism, moving through Christianity and ending with the final updates from the Almighty coming through Muhammad. Muslims view Jesus much like how Christianity views Jewish prophets like Moses or Elijah, important but not most important. ",
"I'd like to offer a rather cynical side to this argument. The fact of the matter is power rests in the people, and it is far easier to get people agitated by appealing to their emotions than by appealing to their reason and logic. It is also easier to get people to unite behind you when you claim to be fighting against a common threat or enemy such as \"terrorism\", \"communism\" or \"the evil Jews\".\n\nIn the same way that politicians like to drag up polarizing issues around election time, religious leaders find opportunities to agitate people by making them feel threatened, as these people are more likely to flock to the banner of that leader and add to his power.\n\nIf nobody commented on it, it's almost certain that most of these protestors would never even have heard of this film, and would have gone on with their lives. However, certain power hungry leaders (who happen to be Muslim in this case, although other people have done similar acts in other times) exploited the event, and blew it out of proportion in order to capitalize on the emotions of Muslims in order to consolidate their power.\n\nYou see Christian and Hindu (to name but two) religious leaders using this to increase their power and influence as well. There are Indian political parties that openly (and violently) proclaim that India belongs to Hindus. There are certainly places in the US where Christianity has turned violent (particularly against gays).\n\nPower is more seductive, and addictive, than money will ever be.",
"You have an important misconception in your question. Jesus IS seen as God in mainstream Christianity. All mainstream Christian groups are trinitarian and agree on this point. This is core Christian doctrine.\n\nThere are only a very small number of fringe churches that are nontrinitarian, (such as the Mormons) and these are generally not considered Christian by mainstream Christianity despite their self identifying as such. Denying the divinity of Jesus = not Christian, at least as far as mainstream Christianity is concerned. \n\nJesus is seen as a prophet in Islam (which, like Judaism, is nontrinitarian.)\n\nAs to the fervour, I don't think it is down to the religions per se but rather cultural and external factors: the level of modernity in a society, the Enlightenment in Europe, and the acceptance of secularism in most traditionally Christian countries.\n\nPeople used be executed for blasphemy in Christian countries all the time; you have no doubt heard of the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials, while the last person to be executed in Britain for blasphemy was as recent as the end of the seventeenth century.\n\nIn fact, if you look at the entire history of the two religions, Christianity is almost certainly far less tolerant of people having different beliefs. Islam by contrast has historically tolerated Christians and Jews and afforded them the right to worship (although notably NOT the Baha'i, who are seen as an Islamic heresy.)\n\nTL;DR, it is because Islamic *countries* are more conservative rather than anything specifically to do with the religion.",
"Fact: Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the koran and Jesus also has a tomb awaiting him next to the prophet Muhammad in Saudi Arabia. ",
"Respect for religious figures is outwardly expressed to a greater degree in most predominantly Muslim cultures. You can't compare how Muslims regard Muhammad to how Christians regard Jesus. You have to compare how Muslims regard Muhammad to how Muslims regard Jesus.",
"I believe that the lack of muslim drawings of mohammed stemmed from trying to stay away from idolotrey/ diefying mohammed. I don't actually know why all muslims take such great offense to these videos and cartoons.",
"You see, this isn't about how \"holy\" someone is considered to someone else. \n\n\n\n\nFrom an islamic point of view (for the non five-year-olds: this is a sweeping simplification, no religion has a general POV true for every practitioner of the religion), Islam is the end point of a wave of religions starting with Judaism and continuing through Christianity. Basically, the only difference between Christianity and Islam is Muhammad and his teachings. For most muslims this view is confirmed by the fact that christians in islamic countries live a lot more like the local muslims than like christians in the West. So making fun of Muhammad is making fun of the only thing that differentiates Islam from Christianity, and therefore also all of Islam.\n\n\n\nAnother part of the problem is a cultural difference between islamic countries and the West. It's a bit hard to explain, and it's definitely outside of ELI5 territory, but you can imagine that an idea can't exist outside of the relationship between to people. In the West we relate to ideas as something individual and separate from the people who have it. You can ridicule and idea without ridiculing the people who have the idea. An ideology can be made fun of without making fun of the people who adhere to the ideology. In the islamic cultural sphere this is very different. If I offer you a smoke, it's not about offering you a way to sate your potential need for one, it's about showing you that I respect you, and by accepting it, you also respect me. In the religiously heterogenous Middle East, I don't necessarily expect you to convert, but I expect you to show your respect for me by not making fun of them. If you don't accept my beliefs as something to be revered, you're disrespecting me personally, and showing me that you consider my beliefs as inferior to your own.\n\n\n\nIf anyone actually from the Middle-East or a muslim wants to expand or correct anything on my statement, please do. I have only academic knowledge and \"outsider\"-experience as a Westerner, and I hope my explanations doesn't seem patronising in any way.",
"Preparing for downvotes but from a political philosophy perspective many scholars consider this accurate:\nBack in the day the Christian world (Europe) was characterized by similar problems that we see today in the Muslim world, war, disregard for human rights, disregard for women's rights, etc.\nMany important political events happened between medieval Europe and post enlightenment Europe. These events were things that gave rise to Protestant Christians, stripped papal authority, and gave sovereignty to the states. [The Peace of Westphailia](_URL_0_) is an important event which gave the states the right to practice whatever religion they wanted and did not bond anyone to the pope. By the time of the American and French revolutions Europe and the to-be-United States was largely secularized. They still had religion but they put it on the back burner and took it out of the political system. \nSome will argue that the United States does still abide by a religious system of government but even the most religious state legislators in the US do not compare to the integration that we see in the Muslim countries.\nBy putting religion aside and not putting so much emphasis on Christ in international relations Western countries, have been able to remain non-belligerent. Even if you take into account WWI and WWII there has been way less fighting in the past century in Europe than in any previous century.\nThe muslim world has yet to do this. Their system of government and religious culture is still totally bonded together. We will see a lot of civil war before muslim countries realize that they want to set aside religion and keep worship on Sunday (or in their case Friday) and out of government.\n\nSo despite what people like to say about the US and religiosity, it has been like Europe in its ability to put less and less emphasis on Christ, keeping religion private. This hasn't happened in Islam yet.\n\n**TL;DR Christian Western Europe, US, Australia, New Zealand have been able to secularize their governments which creates less war. Muslims countries still have a very integrated religious and political system**",
"What might help you understand things that for Muslims the \"just\" should be in front of Jesus Christs name. He was a propet, but not the last or best.\nedit bad typing",
"This is bit heavy but should give you a idea.\n\nAccording to islam, god has sent 124,000 prophets on earth. Below are the prophets which are considered most important (Uleel-amr). Lord has given them a special title (Laqb) which shows their level with god.\n\n* Nuh (Noah in Christianity) ?\n* Daud (David in Christianity) ?\n* Ibrahim (Abraham in Christianity) is Khalilullah (Friend of God)\n* Musa (Abraham in Christianity) is Kalimullah (One who speaks with God)\n* Isa (Jesus in Christianity) is Ruhullah (Spirit/soul of God). \n* Muhammad is having many title. Most prominent is Sayid-ul-Mursaleen (chief of Messengers) and Mehboobullah (Beloved of God). \n\nGod has tested every prophet (to show the world that they are worthy of it) during their times. So, the titles have been given to prophets based on what they have done.",
"I don't think this is a religious issue at all, but a political one.\n\nThere's a worldwide clash of cultures between Islam and the west, and any attack on Muhammad could be very easily construed as an attack against Islam. What causes the quick escalations isn't Muhammad being \"more sacred\" to Muslims than Jesus is to Christians, but (imho) the current geopolitical state which enables more extreme manifestations of Islam, which are naturally more militant and less yielding to offenses.\n\nIt's not dissimilar to (but not at all entirely alike) how Christians would burn at the stake people who openly opposed the church during the inquisition, while Jews (which were, statistically speaking, much more prominent in these days than they are now) were relatively indifferent to such offenses.\n\n**TL;DR - It's not a matter of theology -- or some non existing hierarchy of sacredness -- but of geopolitical stress manifesting through piousness**",
"I’m not sure how you go about explaining the triumvirate to a five year old so if you don’t mind I’m just going to set that aside…\n\nSome people think Jesus *is* God in a human body. Those people call themselves Christians. Other people think Jesus wasn’t God but only a messenger sent by God to tell everyone about God and what he wants us to do. If someone thinks someone else is a messenger from God they call that person a prophet. Muslims believe in a lot of the same prophets as Christians, but they fall under that second group of people who didn’t think Jesus *is* God. They also believe that after Jesus there was a man named Muhammad who claimed to be the FINAL prophet. \n\nA lot of Muslims think that in order to be a true Muslim you must believe certain things about Muhammad. A big rule a lot of people are mad about lately is that you shouldn’t create a picture of him. Now we come to the heart of your question: Why do Muslims treat Muhammad with so many special rules? When people first started listening to Muhammad’s teachings he worried that people would mistakenly worship him INSTEAD of God so he tried to make sure that didn’t happen. He told everyone that they shouldn’t pray to him, and that he wasn’t important so they shouldn’t draw him in art. Muhammad was seen as smart and wise by the people who followed him so they wanted to do what he asked. \n\nAs the religion grew the belief that Muhammad was the final prophet of God became just as important as believing in God and his message. Muhammad is important to Muslims just liked Jesus is to Christians because they both were believed to be speaking on behalf of God. In order to believe what prophets tell us, you must first have a lot faith and respect in the prophets themselves. \n\nTl;Dr : It’s not really about whether you’re a ‘prophet’ or ‘The Son of God’ the important thing is that each religion believes that their ‘message’ is a more authentic version of God’s will. When Muslims defend and show devotion to Muhammad they are defending their entire religion, just as a Christian might do if you were to scrutinize the testimony of one of the twelve apostles. \n",
"A sub-question to this is, why do they get upset with using his image in any way? wouldn't they want to know what their prophet looked like?",
"This is something that I've been looking at for a while. One answer that I stumbled upon, which I find rather fascinating, is that Muhammad (P.B.U.H) didn't want his image drawn so that nobody worships the image. You see, he wanted people to worship God, the Creator, but during his period of time, people in the region would worship statues, painting, even fruit. He feared that his image (or portrait) would become a deity for people to worship, much like the image of Jesus Christ was at some point (still is I believe for some people). Another fascinating thing I found is that so many extremists are basing their attacks on the hadith. Now the hadith isn't like the Quran, the Quran is the word of God, while the hadith is someone jotting down what the prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) said, much after his death, and, I believe, some f the person's beliefs and ideologies were added to the manuscripts. For example, in the Quran, it doesn't say to kill the Jews or Christians, in fact the prophet would go to their funerals \"because they are human\". He would get attacked and harassed every where he went - people would throw animal feces and bowels at him (they were much darker times then) and yet he didn't do anything. What I'm trying to say is that some of the extremist Muslims are following insulting the prophet even more by shaming him with their behaviors. \n\nPS: I am in no way bashing Islam (I'm Muslim), nor any other religion. \n\nTL;DR: Some people are just stupid.",
"I'll probably get in some jam for saying this, and I certainly don't condone any of this nonsense - but technically, (or ideologically) they just take what *they think* their book tells them to do more seriously than most Christians take what *their* book tells *them* - if they all took Leviticus seriously they would all be selling their virgin daughters and killing people for working on Sundays...fundamentalists justify the twisted, crazy things they do as \"acts of undying faith\"",
"He made it against the rules to portray himself in case muslims worshipped him instead... but muslims kill people who dare to disagree with him. Riiiight...",
"ELI5 version:\n\nSometimes people think their imaginary friends are real. And they believe that so strongly they want to kill people that suggest any different. ",
"There isn't just one good answer, so I'll give it a shot. It'll probably get buried though.\n\n1) Muslims love Prophet Muhammad far more than they love any other Prophet, since he is considered to be the \"seal\" of the Prophets, which means his goal was to peacefully unite all religions of all previous prophets into one religion, which is Islam.\n\n2) Muslims place Muhammad at an extremely high rank since the Qur'an has titled Muhammad as \"The Most Beloved One\". If Muslims consider the Qur'an to be the \"word of God\" and if God himself says that this one man is the Most Beloved One, then Muslims should believe it wholeheartedly, and with strong belief comes action. Not saying negative action is justified, in fact it is rejected by the Prophet himself. Evidence of the Prophet being neutral or defensive when he was discriminated/offended can be found throughout Islamic teachings.\n\n3) It is the love and respect that Muslims have for all Prophets that make Muslims sensitive to this matter. Majority of the Muslims would even condemn people from negatively portraying and disrespecting any other Prophet (including Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Adam .. etc). \n\n4) Muslims wholeheartedly believe that Prophet Muhammad should not be depicted with any type of imagery, which is why you will not find any particular image of him, rather you could find descriptions of his physical attributes. This is clear in the sayings of the prophet (Hadith), and it is due to the reason that he did not want to be idolized after his death.\n\nForgive me if I said anything which may seem offensive or inaccurate.\n",
"The vast majority of Christians *do* recognize Jesus as God. In fact, depending on your definition of Christianity - to *not* recognize the divinity of Jesus is to not even be Christian. The doctrine of the trinity is definitely a majority belief held be nearly every sect of Christianity.",
"I don't, I'm Muslim. He's special in that he's the last prophet and he brought the Quran or something like that; but he was just a dude with faults and everything. Some people... take it a wee bit farther than this.",
"Well, you're assuming people haven't been killed for blasphemy by Christians before.\n\nMuhammad was a prophet, under God. He is not worshiped. Jesus IS worshiped in Christianity as God. Muhammad actually warned against elevating him to the position that Christians elevated Jesus.\n\nI understand that Muslims are a bit ferocious at defending the prophet. In the Sunnah and the Qu'ran, patience and controlling one's temper is prescribed in matters such as this. ",
"To be fair Christianity is significantly older than Islam. In addition Christians have performed their fair share of religiously fueled riots/actions for blasphemy. It's only until relatively recently has Christian fueled violence on the same scale as what is happening in the Islamic world been quelled. Anyway hope we can all just get a long."
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d3m86s | why there's no screen that uses both rgb and actual cmy pixels? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d3m86s/eli5_why_theres_no_screen_that_uses_both_rgb_and/ | {
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"Because CMYK is a subtractive color model. It only works when we describe things that reflect light, like inks, pigments, or dyes. It's subtractive because we start with white light and then subtract the wavelengths absorbed by whatever the light is reflecting off of. When describing things that emit light, like screens or lightbulbs, we use additive color, which is RGB.",
"CMY doesn't work on things that emits light and RGB doesn't work on things that absorb light. They are mutually exclusive. That's why screens use RGB and printers CMY",
"This question is more interesting that it at first seems. The usual \"cmyk is a subtractive color model\" seems a bit hasty response, when you realize that LCD screens start with white light and literally subtract unwanted wavelengths. I thought, there's no reason why we coudn't make CMY filters instead of RGB and install them in series, rather than parallel. However, the problem is controlling the filters dynamically. After a short google, it seems that electrically controllable color filters are technically possible, but not even close to the range of the entire visible spectrum.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSo in short, the technology doesn't exist."
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d3shpp | why isn't co2, co or hcn considered organic compounds? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d3shpp/eli5_why_isnt_co2_co_or_hcn_considered_organic/ | {
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"The exact definition of what constitutes an organic compound is a bit arbitrary, but I'd say that for the most part an organic compound should contain both carbon-carbon bonds and bonds between carbon and something else, especially carbon-hydrogen and often carbon-oxygen and/or carbon-nitrogen bonds. Compounds fitting both of these criteria are generally considered organic. \n\nThe three compounds you mentioned don't contain carbon-carbon bonds, and moreover were known for a long time (maybe 1-2 centuries or so) before the relatively modern concept of organic chemistry came about, and were historically considered inorganic/not related to life.\n\nThe definition above falls apart a bit when you start considering things like methane (CH4) or methanol (CH3OH), which don't contain carbon-carbon bonds but are the first members of homologous series of compounds that do and are usually considered organic, and graphene or carbon nanotubes, which are often considered organic despite only containing carbon-carbon bonds (in their perfect/pristine form), despite the fact that diamond, another allotrope of carbon with a relatively similar structure, is usually considered inorganic.\n\nSo it's a bit inconsistent at the boundaries of the definition, but that's the gist of it."
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3jwyit | if qr codes are constantly being created in many different forms, is it possible for one to be created, but it has already been created in the past, so now it links to that past code? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jwyit/eli5_if_qr_codes_are_constantly_being_created_in/ | {
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"A QR code is just a computer-readable piece of text. The computer doesn't look it up in a service or anything, the QR code itself contains a URL or a number or whatever other piece of text you want to put in it. So if two people wanted to put the same number or same URL in a QR code, they'd end up with the same code, but it would never happen by accident. It's like saying \"if people are constantly creating new reddit comments, is it possible for a comment to be written that's already been written in the past?\"",
"QR codes are not random. If you make a QR core that says \"Hello\", any other QR code that says \"Hello\" will look exactly the same, and you can't make a QR code that says \"Hello\" look any different. \n\nSo basically, no QR code will ever \"lead\" to the same place without being the exact same QR code. "
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6b7vqk | what is that rush of sensation through my nerves when something incredible happens? | Best way to explain it: a rush goes through my nerves like electricity flowing through a metal disc.
This usually happens during movies with big plot twists or unseen reveals. Basically anything that puts me in awe. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6b7vqk/eli5_what_is_that_rush_of_sensation_through_my/ | {
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"This is ASMR, Autonomous sensory meridian response, a feeling of stimulation throughout the body when you see something or hear something that engages you greatly."
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38o2m2 | how does percussive maintenance work? (a.k.a smacking something like a tv until it works again) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38o2m2/eli5_how_does_percussive_maintenance_work_aka/ | {
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"There are a bunch of theories ... but most probably if you have broken solder-joints or weak connectors it can smack them back into place so the set starts to work again.",
"As a guy who works in electronics, if there's poor soldering on any pads on a circuit board, you'll often find the slightest movement will make it work, or stop working. Percussive Maintenance can, but not always, relies on poor soldering. There isn't enough of a connection being made, so you hit the object, jiggle the insides around a bit, and voila - connection."
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1q63da | genetic algorithm | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1q63da/eli5_genetic_algorithm/ | {
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"It's a way to solve optimization problems, by simulating a process of natural selection.\n\nSuppose you have a mathematical function which takes some input and produces one output, and you want to find out which input will give you the best output (for example the highest possible, or alternatively the lowest). This is called an optimization problem.\n\nHow does genetics come into this? We look at each possible input as an \"individual\", and treat the output as that individual's \"score\". So now we're looking to find an individual who has a high score. We can also \"mate\" two individuals - take their inputs and mix them to create a new input who is a combination of his parent inputs, with a possible \"mutation\" (a change in a part of the input).\n\nSo we start off with a pool of random \"individuals\". We sort the individuals by their scores and then discard the bottom half of the list, so we remain with the ones with the best scores. Now we start mating the remaining individuals - each time we pick a pair somehow and produce a new \"offspring\", until the pool is large enough. After we're done repopulating, we do it all over again (calculate scores, discard bottom half etc.)\n\nAs we go along, assuming we've picked a good \"mating\" function, the individuals' scores should rise higher and higher, until we reach a score we can consider good enough."
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2p3pr0 | how electricity is generated, transmitted down massive wires, and ends up powering a small electric shaver in my home. | Don't worry about being patronizing. I didn't understand twenty-five years ago in Grade 9 and I still don't. Voltage, watts, amps... dumb it down for me please. Way, way, way, down...
I expected to find an answer for this but apparently I'm too dumb to figure out how to use Reddit search properly. Found lots of info on electricity theft though. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p3pr0/eli5_how_electricity_is_generated_transmitted/ | {
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"Generators push and pull electrons creating a wave of electron motion similar to waving a rope held between two people back and forth to create a wave shape in the rope.\n\nThe actual fibers of the rope (electrons) don't travel the whole distance between 1 person to the next, but that wave they make does.\n\nThis wave is used by your appliances to run electric motors designed to take the energy from the wave and turn it into different types of useful motion.\n",
"There are many different factors in electricity being transmitted but I'll just try to make it simple.\n\nBasically the generator is coils of copper wires (3 coils120 degrees apart) and magnets. These wires are spun inside a magnetic field at around at (50*50)rpm (that's what frequency is Hz) in reality the magnets are spun around the coils at (50*50)rpm (60*60 in the US). \nThis produces about 25,000 volts of electricity depending on the generator. This voltage is then sent to a transformer which 'steps up' the voltage to a much higher amount, 450,000v i believe, and that voltage is sent along the wires you see being held up by pylons. \nThis then gets to a local area where another transformer steps the voltage down to a smaller amount 11,000v for industrial complexes, 230v for domestic and 415v for commercial. The 230v is what you get from a plug socket (EU Standard) in your home. There are many electronic factors that power your shaver that would take me personally a long time to explain. \n\nSorry if values are a little incorrect it's been a while and I'm bad at explaining things.\n\nTl;Dr\nGenerated at very High voltage, transformer makes it an even bigger voltage to transmit long distances, another transformer makes it a much smaller voltage which comes out of plug sockets.\n\nVoltage is the potential a circuit has for making a current flow.\n\nCurrent is the flow of electrons in a circuit and relates directly to charge, voltage, and impedance. Current being the flow of charge in a given time.\n\nImpedance or resistance in DC is the opposition to current flow. Meaning if there is an infinite resistance current can't flow.\n\nThese are the three fundamental things in electrical circuits. Look up these terms and you might get a better understanding of electricity as I'm awful at explaining things.\n\nEdit 50 times per second not rpm.\n\n",
"Some fuel is burned to provide mechanical power, or nuclear energy is used to heat steam to provide mechanical power. That power is used to turn the shaft of a generator, sometimes called a dynamo. There are different configurations, but the key is to create a situation where wires experience a time-varying magnetic field. This will induce an electric field in the wires, and hence an electrical current. \n \nThat electrical current is Alternating Current. Imagine you had a glass of milk with a straw in it, and you sucked some milk up partway, then pushed it back down, then sucked it up again, etc. etc. If you inserted the right kind of tiny paddlewheel in the straw, you could do work that way. \n \nThat's kind of what AC is like. Its voltage (electrical pressure) surges back and forth, from[ positive to negative](_URL_1_), 60 times per second. The electrons don't really go very far, they just move back and forth, back and forth. But that electronic motion can be harnessed to do work. \n \nFrom the generator, the AC power is put onto those massive wires. If the electricity needs to go very far, it is put on at very high voltages, because that is more efficient. If necessary, a transformer is used to increase the voltage. It does that by changing the electrical field to a magnetic field (in the primary) and then back again on the other side (the secondary). But its engineered to increase the voltage and decrease the current on the secondary side. \n \nThen, when the AC power gets to your neighborhood, a [pole transformer](_URL_0_) is used to \"step down\" the voltage to the 110V AC you use in your house (in the USA, at least). [It probably comes into your house at a higher voltage and then splits off 110V AC, but I don't want to get into that, it's harder to explain.] \n \nAfter going through a meter and a breaker box and some wires in your house, it comes to your little electric shaver. It contains an electric motor that does pretty much the opposite of what the generator did...it turns a time varying electric field into motion by using it to create a magnetic field and spin/move something. \n \n**TL;DR** - Magnets."
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ti9n5 | why are we sexually attracted to the bodies of the opposite gender (or same gender if it is gays)? | And please, **I am tired of "cultural perception" and "beauty is at the eye of the beholder" bullshit** that I read all through the internet. The vast majority of females around the world are attracted to athletic looking males, while the vast majority of males are attracted to the curvness of the female body.
Males in some tribes in africa might not be attracted to boobies because the women are naked all the time, but they are generally attracted to females too.
Edit: Look at these mother fuckers: [1](_URL_2_) [2](_URL_1_). from [here](_URL_0_). | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ti9n5/eli5_why_are_we_sexually_attracted_to_the_bodies/ | {
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"Well, cultural perception is certainly part of it, but you're right that there is more, and some things are universal. As much as people like to think that we have transcended our primitive roots, we are still influenced by instinctive urges. A few specific examples:\n\nWe like breasts because larger breasts are associated with better ability to raise children. We like athletic bodies because athletic people are typically healthier, and also better able to catch game (or escape form predators). Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors who found those qualities attractive mated with people who had those qualities, and since those qualities were biologically beneficial, desire for certain qualities became a part of us as much as the qualities themselves.\n\nEdit: Also, I don't mean to imply that these instinctive preferences are entirely obsolete. Some sort of are, like breast size doesn't really matter now that there are plenty of alternatives to breast milk for raising children, but being athletic is still healthy (and being obese is still not).\n\ntl;dr We like certain things because they're healthy and make us better mates or parents.\n",
"When you hit puberty your body is designed with the need to reproduce.\n\nIt is designed with a basic understanding of what is ideal to reproduce with.\n\nSexy hips/curves = better chance to carry a baby, symmetrical faces = better DNA quality, bigger boobies = more healthier to feed children. Athleticism/youth = Healthy. \n\nNow you are not attracted to a female gorilla (I hope), because you cannot mate with it, your body is designed with one ultimate purpose in mind, create copies. Attraction/sex/etc is the drive that keeps life going. All humans are designed with this purpose."
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adonis_Mazarin_Louvre_MR239.jpg",
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3jlisa | what chemicals cause bad breath and how are they produced? | Taking diseases out of the consideration. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jlisa/eli5_what_chemicals_cause_bad_breath_and_how_are/ | {
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"Well, technically, bad breath is often caused by diseases as gum disease and tooth decay can contribute.\n\nEssentially the cause (without getting into /r/askscience territory) is organic sulfur-containing molecules given off as waste products from bacteria living off the sugars and starches and other stuff left over in your mouth. It's often worst in the early morning (\"morning breath\") when they've had lots of time to feed, grow and spread.\n\nIf they find a spot to hide, such as a cracked filling or a denture that doesn't fit right, or if they get a nice meal of your own blood from your untreated gum disease, they can produce a lot of this odor. \n\nThere's also bad breath caused by eating foods with a lot of garlic like caesar salad, or onions, or coffee and so on. Those usually smell more like the food that causes them. "
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1ugezy | why does my body need various metals like zinc, iron, manganese, etc? how does my body process these metals? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ugezy/eli5_why_does_my_body_need_various_metals_like/ | {
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"What the layman understands as 'metal' with 'metallic' properties (a certain look, feel, taste, electrical conductivity etc.) only exists when there are large quantities of the specific metal atoms that form special metallic bonds. \n\n\nIn the body, where metallic atoms are required in very very small quantities ('trace elements'), they are usually present in single-atom form and thus do not show any 'metallic' properties. As single-atom elements, they perform duties much like any other element that you need to survive: Because of their specific properties and interaction with other elements, your body uses them in the construction of specific proteins with specific forms and functions. An iron atom, for example, makes it easier/possible for a protein to bind/unbind oxygen atoms, therefore iron atoms are used in the construction of hemoglobin, the protein that transports oxygen in your blood. \n\n\nBecause our supply of trace elements usually comes in the form of other organic material, they are already present in single-atom form, so the body has no need for mechanisms or enzymes that break down metallic matter (although some exist). That's why metals aren't considered foodstuff, and you don't crave for them, even though your body needs some of the atoms they are made of.",
"The short answer is cofactors. Example Iron is in our hemoglobin. The protein that helps transport Oxygen around the body. The iron sits in the Heme group of the protein and loosly bonds the oxygen. Another example is Zinc, a confactor in Alcohol dehydrogenase. Helps break down alcohol (ethyl alcohol) into acetaldehyde. \n\nSide fun fact when some Asians drink alcohol and get a flushing reaction it is from an accumulation of acetaldehyde, either from producing it too fast, or not breaking it down fast enough. "
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4jfg4o | why do people smoke? in other words what do smokers feel when they smoke? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jfg4o/eli5why_do_people_smoke_in_other_words_what_do/ | {
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"From the context of cigarettes, they BEGIN smoking for different reasons. It could be to look cool and feel accepted by other friends who smoke, or because it's standard in your society.\n\nAfter a while though, nicotene, an ingredient in tobacco cigarettes, is an addictive stimulant and people become addicted to it just like some other drugs create addiction. If you're a heavy smoker you can go into a 'nicotine fit' - a mood of agitation and restlessness - if you don't get your fix. And like those drugs it can be VERY hard to impossible for some people to quit. \n\nThere's also a psychological addiction effect where it becomes a routine or a habit that offers some comfort to a person. A cigarette after sex can celebrate that sex. One with your morning coffee calms you down as a part of every day. You feel like having a cigarette while out drinking with friends because it's a standard part of the experience. ",
"I smoke cigars, never cigarettes. I enjoy the taste in my mouth and watching the smoke itself. It's not healthy but it's not addictive either. It's just a way to relax with a drink in hand.",
"When you first start, it's a whole new level of relaxation, and alertness at the same time. Your muscles relax, you can think more clearly, and you get to step out and take a tiny moment for yourself. It's also a very hypnotic process. Your own mini ritual. After a while you don't notice it as much, but you NEED it. That's it. Doesn't take long, but I'll be damned if I'm not still in love with the whole ritual. I still use an ecig because I consciously enjoy smoking, on top of the addiction. Nicotine is potent shit.\n\nEdit: \"Woth\" is not a word.\n",
"I smoke quite infrequently, but for me, it's this focused feeling you get in addition to getting great euphoric buzz that lasts for a good while. To exaggerate a bit, smoking a cigarette feels more or less like waking up, suddenly you're up and awake, ready to do things.\n\nBut you also get this really nice buzz going on, that's just pure euphoria. I understand people build tolerance for that as they smoke more, but for me, that never happened.",
"I can't speak for other people, but I started smoking because I'd always loved the smell of fire and smoke, and because the adderral that I'd been prescribed in 8th grade made me incredibly self-conscious, jittery, and habit-prone. I've since stopped taking that medicine and I'm a recovering alcoholic and addict with nearly 4 and a half years of sobriety. I've gone stretches of over two years without smoking over the last 17 years (since I started at 16). When I started back the last time, it was because my cat had just died. His name was Ziggy Stardust, and at the lowest point in my life, he was my only true friend. He was the reason I became sober in the first place, after being arrested and thrown in jail for an alcohol-related crime. I was in jail and he had no one to take care of him, and for the first time in my life, I felt powerless. Luckily I was able to get a message to a friend of mine through one of the guards at the county lockup; but the realization of how close I came to being responsible for the death of a beloved family member finally gave me the resolve to let go of my addiction and turn my life around. I quit drinking, taking mood-altering medication, and quit smoking as well. After Ziggy passed, it was all I could do to not run back to all the other stuff, so I bought a pack, and have been smoking ever since (about 2 years ago).\n\nSmoking makes me feel focused, imaginative, and alert. It's a less jittery form of mental stimulation than drinking coffee IMO (however the two go very well together). When I'm being incredibly productive, I'm usually smoking 1-2 per hour. When I'm doing anything creative, I will go through 2-3 per hour. On days of relaxation, I don't smoke too frequently: roughly 2-10 per day. \n\nThe exception is when I'm really tired, at which point it causes me to become more drowzy; however, the addiction also tends to \"wake me up\" earlier than I'd normally get up. It is the only effective way I've found to deal with insomnia. I know it's bad for me in the long term. I've kicked it before, and I will again. ",
"I started smoking in the military, worked as a MP for 4 years over the night shift. It was a great way to stay awake, and to small talk with alot of the guys. Still a big social thing for me. Now that I'm out I smoke at parties and occasionally after a stressful day. But unless I'm around other smokers it's infrequent. ",
"I used to smoke infrequently. For me, it felt exactly like a 2-3 martini buzz, but almost instant in onset and lasting around 15 minutes. On top of that, the nicotine relaxes your muscles, so after 3-4 puffs you could literally feel it hit and your whole body just relaxes a notch. I haven't had a cigarette in years and I still get cravings.",
"Ex-smoker here. Modern cigarettes are sticks of pure addiction. When you begin smoking cigarettes, the nicotine receptors in your brain are activated and you associate cigarettes with the slight 'buzz' you get from nicotine, which includes superficial feelings of stress dissipating, relaxation, etc. Until your next cigarette, you are in withdrawal from that nicotine, and when you smoke again, the withdrawal goes away, and you feel good.\n\nMost smokers smoke only to relieve that withdrawal. It's why they \"have to\" smoke. If it was something they just found pleasurable, they could certainly go a day without it, but that is not the case. Cigarette smoking is a self-perpetuating deathly cycle. Quitting was the best decision of my life. "
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4ihcf3 | what is dark energy? and how do we know there is approximately 70% of it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ihcf3/eli5_what_is_dark_energy_and_how_do_we_know_there/ | {
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"\"Dark\" means \"Unknown\". That is, when we observe the universe we know a certain amount of energy is there, because the expansion of the universe couldn't be accelerating without it. But we don't know what this energy is, what form it takes. We can't measure it as a result.\n\nAnd when we observe the universe, we can only account for about 30% of the total energy this system would need to function. So dark energy is the name for whatever forms of energy that must exist that we cannot currently detect, but make up the majority of the universe.\n\n",
"The universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. The energy it would take to cause this expansion is calculated and then contrasted against the amount of known energy in the universe. That amount comes up way short, leaving a huge amount of energy that must be there but is unknown, hence dark.",
"It's really difficult to have a true ELI5 explanation of this because it's building upon thousands of years of physics knowledge, but here goes.\n\nSuppose you have a toy boat, a constant, unchanging, wind speed, and a body of still water (and assume there are no currents or anything weird about this water). You give the boat a little push, and it starts rolling out into the water, pushed by the wind and your initial energy. Now, we are pretty sure of the scientific formulas for things like acceleration, speed, etc. of boats in water. Let's say based on the formulas, the boat speed should reach a maximum of 10 centimeters a second. But for some reason, the boat keeps going faster and faster, and after 5 minutes its going 20 centimeters a second, without any other conditions changing (wind is the same, water is unmoving). Now, if we are to assume our basic formulas are correct, then there must be some other source of energy accounting for this acceleration. We simply call this other source of energy \"dark energy.\"\n\nAs for how we calculate it, it's just algebra. Let's say, for extreme simplicity sake, the acceleration of the boat is [windspeed - boatweight = acceleration]. We calculate [15 - 5 = 10], and conclude it should accelerate to 10 cm/s. But its going 20 cm/s and still accelerating! So there *has* to be something else besides wind giving it energy, such that [20 = (15 - 5) + x], or something of the sort. Thus, we know dark energy is contributing X amount to the acceleration, even if we do not know exactly what it is.\n\nDon't hurt me for the terrible acceleration formula, I just thought that giving all the real formulas could just get in the way. I'll try to answer any more specific questions you have."
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36j5a7 | how does a frost-free freezer prevent frost? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36j5a7/eli5_how_does_a_frostfree_freezer_prevent_frost/ | {
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"There is a heater in the fridge/freezer that melts the frost from the coil (which is the cooing element) and then the water is drained away. The heater is usually on a timer that cycles on and off a few times a day. ",
"Frost forms in a freezer because when you open the door, humid air comes in and contacts cold surfaces in the freezer - this includes the food, the trays and the cooling pipes. Each time you open the door, more air comes in, and the humidity freezes on the coldest parts.\n\nIn a frost free freezer, the cooling pipes are hidden in a separate compartment. A fan then circulates air from the main compartment, into the cooling compartment, and then back into the main compartment.\n\nSo, when you open the door, humid air gets in, and as soon as you close the door, the fan circulates the air over the cooling pipes, where the humidity freezes out. Because the fan circulates the air quickly, there isn't time for frost to form on the rest of the freezer.\n\nSo, what happens when the cooling coil gets clogged with frost? There is a heater in the cooling pipe compartment, that is triggered after a certain number of hours, or certain number of door openings, or if the freezer is struggling to maintain airflow. This melts the frost on the cooling coil and the water drains out through a drain hole. Because the heater is in a separate compartment, and because the fan is shut off during defrosting, the heater doesn't thaw out the food.\n\nThe water drains into a compartment where the hot coils at the back of the freezer go. The heat from these coils evaporates the water, so that it doesn't need emptying."
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n7n0h | explain georg cantor's continuum hypothesis to me like i'm 5! well, or in simplistic terms... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/n7n0h/explain_georg_cantors_continuum_hypothesis_to_me/ | {
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"So you are a very organized five year old. You like taking things and putting them in order from smallest to biggest. You want to take this attitude and apply it to sets.\n\nIf you try on finite sets, everything seems easy. the set {1} is clearly smaller than the set {0, 2} 'cause it has less stuff in it.\n\nBut if you try this on infinite sets, you run into trouble. Consider the set of natural numbers {0, 1, 2, 3, ...}. This set is really big: it is infinite, there's no end to it. Consider also the set of perfect squares {0, 1, 4, 9, ...}. Which set is bigger? It may seem obvious that the latter is smaller: look, the set of perfect squares is just a *subset* of the set of natural numbers, if one set fits inside the other, then it has to be smaller.\n\nOkay, but lets try a different test, and we'll see we get a different result. Lets go back to the first example. Why do we think that {1} is smaller than {0, 2}? One reason is that one has 1 element and the other has 2 element, but this doesn't help with infinite sets, because we can't actually count them and get their size to compare. So we have to go about this differently: another way to know that {0,2} because we can't match up its elements with {1}: We can match up 0 and 1, but then where does 2 go? Or we can try to match up 1 and 2, but now 0 is left over! There is no way to match up all the elements of {0, 2} with {1}, but there *is* a way to match up the elements of {1} with elements {0, 2} by just matching 1 with 0. So we can say {1} is smaller than {0, 2} because there is a matching of {1} with {0, 2} but not the other way around. The fancy math word for this is an *injection*.\n\nSo let's go back to the infinite example. We know there is an injection of perfect squares into the natural numbers by matching each number with itself. But there is an injection the other way too! Send 0 to 0, 1 to 1, 2 to 4, 3 to 9, etc. all the way down. This matches each natural number with a perfect square, it is an injection! Because there are injections each way, we say these sets are actually the same size!\n\nWoah!\n\nOkay, infinity is weird, I guess all infinite sets are the same size. Nope, infinity is even weirder: there are sets *bigger* than the natural numbers in this sense; for instance the real numbers (fractions, decimals, pi, etc)! And then there are sets bigger than that! And bigger than that! There's no end to the sizes of sets.\n\nOkay, so what is the continuum hypothesis? This asks whether there are any sets which are bigger than the natural numbers, but smaller than the real numbers. Well if we understood all of the above, this question sounds sort of easy right? Just make one! Actually, it is *undecidable*. You cannot prove it either way, nor can you disprove it. It isn't true or false. No fun! Especially because mathematicians had been trying to prove there wasn't such a set for 60 or so years. How would you like to do something for 60 years before someone else informed you it was impossible?",
"So you are a very organized five year old. You like taking things and putting them in order from smallest to biggest. You want to take this attitude and apply it to sets.\n\nIf you try on finite sets, everything seems easy. the set {1} is clearly smaller than the set {0, 2} 'cause it has less stuff in it.\n\nBut if you try this on infinite sets, you run into trouble. Consider the set of natural numbers {0, 1, 2, 3, ...}. This set is really big: it is infinite, there's no end to it. Consider also the set of perfect squares {0, 1, 4, 9, ...}. Which set is bigger? It may seem obvious that the latter is smaller: look, the set of perfect squares is just a *subset* of the set of natural numbers, if one set fits inside the other, then it has to be smaller.\n\nOkay, but lets try a different test, and we'll see we get a different result. Lets go back to the first example. Why do we think that {1} is smaller than {0, 2}? One reason is that one has 1 element and the other has 2 element, but this doesn't help with infinite sets, because we can't actually count them and get their size to compare. So we have to go about this differently: another way to know that {0,2} because we can't match up its elements with {1}: We can match up 0 and 1, but then where does 2 go? Or we can try to match up 1 and 2, but now 0 is left over! There is no way to match up all the elements of {0, 2} with {1}, but there *is* a way to match up the elements of {1} with elements {0, 2} by just matching 1 with 0. So we can say {1} is smaller than {0, 2} because there is a matching of {1} with {0, 2} but not the other way around. The fancy math word for this is an *injection*.\n\nSo let's go back to the infinite example. We know there is an injection of perfect squares into the natural numbers by matching each number with itself. But there is an injection the other way too! Send 0 to 0, 1 to 1, 2 to 4, 3 to 9, etc. all the way down. This matches each natural number with a perfect square, it is an injection! Because there are injections each way, we say these sets are actually the same size!\n\nWoah!\n\nOkay, infinity is weird, I guess all infinite sets are the same size. Nope, infinity is even weirder: there are sets *bigger* than the natural numbers in this sense; for instance the real numbers (fractions, decimals, pi, etc)! And then there are sets bigger than that! And bigger than that! There's no end to the sizes of sets.\n\nOkay, so what is the continuum hypothesis? This asks whether there are any sets which are bigger than the natural numbers, but smaller than the real numbers. Well if we understood all of the above, this question sounds sort of easy right? Just make one! Actually, it is *undecidable*. You cannot prove it either way, nor can you disprove it. It isn't true or false. No fun! Especially because mathematicians had been trying to prove there wasn't such a set for 60 or so years. How would you like to do something for 60 years before someone else informed you it was impossible?"
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45yu3u | why in the armies major comes after lieutenant but major general is before lieutenant general | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45yu3u/eli5why_in_the_armies_major_comes_after/ | {
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"While lieutenant is a rank, it is also a word which means \"subordinate\". For instance, you have Major, Lieutenant Colonel (that is subordinate to...), Colonel. The Lieutenant General is subordinate to the General, that's all.",
"Because originally the rank was \"sergeant major general\" and later shortened to \"major general\"."
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8dcxl4 | how do green vegetables lose their colour when overcooking, and why does refreshing them in iced water "lock in" the colour after blanching? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8dcxl4/eli5_how_do_green_vegetables_lose_their_colour/ | {
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"Okay, assuming that you already know that the green color in vegetables is from chlorophyll, right? Well there are actually two chlorophylls, one is yellow, the other is blue. The blue chlorophyll breaks down when cooked, leaving the resulting vegetable visibly more yellow. \n\nNow, the ice water after blanching doesn't really lock in anything. When you take your vegetables out of the water, they're still hot and cooking (meat does this when you take it out of the oven or off the grill/pan, which is why you're supposed to pull it 5-10 degrees short of your preferred doneness and let it rest until it reaches room temperature before cutting it). The ice water very quickly cools the vegetable down, so it doesn't cook any further. This is mostly useful if you intend to cook the vegetable in further, or if you aren't going to eat it immediately."
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15ik0o | why is it legal to fire missiles against uncertain targets with a drone? | I'm not from US and I haven't been following all the news around this subject but some of them makes me think about why do it still keeps happening.
Since when it is happening and has it been successful enough so them kept using it? (the drones)
and also, why isn't there any punishment against those driving those things when they accidentally kill children? (that I've heard of) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/15ik0o/eli5_why_is_it_legal_to_fire_missiles_against/ | {
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"also, this is not my main language so sorry if any mistakes",
"The drones are amazing for a few reasons: they are cost efficient, fuel efficient, accurate machines with multiple capabilities. Some of them attack, others are used for observation. And believe me when I say that those commanders who slip up and accidentally kill children are most definitely punished. It's just not thrown in the front page of the news...",
"This doesn't seem like a very ELI5 kind of question. There's no simple way to explain an answer to really any of your questions, and you'd be even less likely to get an unbiased one. I mean, look at the comments so far."
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37587u | how did a massive wealth gap appear between the top .1% and the rest of us. why didn't workers demand a bigger peice of the pie throughout the 80s-2010s? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37587u/eli5_how_did_a_massive_wealth_gap_appear_between/ | {
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"One of the biggest reasons is the departure of unionized jobs. A lot of the blue collar manufacturing jobs that were unionized, and used to be a huge part of the US economy were outsourced to other countries, or otherwise eliminated. With a wane in union powers, the general public loses bargaining power, and thus, claim to a larger \"piece of the pie.\""
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2b4vbj | if you sleep on your hand and circulation gets cut off for extended periods, could your hand actually die? | Die as in the cells die and you'd have to amputate it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b4vbj/eli5_if_you_sleep_on_your_hand_and_circulation/ | {
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"Unlikely if you sleep on it, however it is entirely possible to constrict[think rope around wrists] your hand to such an extent that all circulation is cut off, and yes, your hand would die in that circumstance after a prolonged duration.\n\n",
"When you sleep on your hand and it falls a sleep it isn't because of blood constriction but because you are pinching a nerve. Tie a rope around a finger, or maybe hand if it's tight enough, and you can cut of blood flow and it will die. ",
"My brother passed out drunk in the back seat of someones car a long time ago. He had to wear a kind of brace thing on his arm that had rubber bands pulling his fingers up and back for over a year while the nerves grew back. Works fine now.",
"There was a story I read over at /r/morbidreality a while ago about this exact thing. The guy kidnapped this dude, and tied him up by his hands in a barn to a pole. He tied his hands so tight (guy wasn't found for ~3 days) his hands had to be amputated. Basically any extended period of time where blood is not allowed to circulate, the tissue will begin to necrotize. I also know of numerous people who have passed out from shooting Heroin, and fell in a position where their legs were crossed one under the other and they sat in that position for up to an entire day. They would have to have their one leg amputated because the circulation had stopped for so long that the muscle had died and the leg couldn't be saved. "
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75kx3b | who controls how much money there is in the world? | Surely as time has gone on there must be more money created from whatever source but who decides how much money is to be printed and how do they keep track of it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/75kx3b/eli5_who_controls_how_much_money_there_is_in_the/ | {
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"Your question ties back into a basic idea of 'value' - how much value does there exist in the world, and can there be more or less of it per capita? \n\nTo speak strictly about money, governments can generally decide to print money, but as prices aren't generally fixed if money is printed prices go up and the value of money falls. Instead governments monitor the general inflow and outflow of money as paper specie is created/destroyed and the government borrows (the government paying interest on its borrowing 'creates' money, and likewise if a government takes tax money and doesn't spend it that's the same thing as the government 'destroying' money).\n\nAs for value itself, there are several competing theories about 'value' - labor (the more work is put into something the more valuable it is), use (the more useful something is the more valuable it is), demand (the more people want something the more valuable it is), et cetera. A good way to think about this is that everyone has a hierarchy of needs and wants which feed into a market, and people who produce things of value produce that value to feed those wants in varying degrees (massive farming of food that everyone needs, fashionable clothing that some people really want and will pay for, etc). In order to facilitate the exchange of goods and services, governments will maintain a level of money in the system that results in stable prices - a rough amount of money per capita, so more money is 'created' with more people.\n\nGovernments will also typically slowly add to that amount of money to create low levels of inflation for public policy purposes, but that's an entirely different conversation.",
"Currencies like the Dollar and the Euro are controlled by *central banks*, which have different ways of putting more money in circulation or taking it out. \n\nFor example, to add more money they can simply create it (sometimes literally printing it) and use it to buy things (like debt). To decrease the money supply, they can increase the amount of money other banks are required to keep on deposit at the central bank, or sell assets they previously bought.\n\nGenerally, central banks adjust the money supply to keep a healthy balance between inflation and unemployment.\n\n(Edit: clarifications)"
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9mvq9k | why does shaving cause breakouts? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9mvq9k/eli5_why_does_shaving_cause_breakouts/ | {
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"You might actually be pushing too hard with the razor. Try to let your face soak in the shaving cream. Ive noticed that sometimes if i dont let the shaving gel sit for long enough on my face, ill get razorburn aswell. Try holding a hot cloth on your face before applying the shaving cream aswell. That has worked for me. If nothing works, you probably just have extremely sensitive skin. You might have to go out and buy an electric razor that doesnt cut as close to the skin as a normal blade would.",
"When you were younger, was probably related to hormones and puberty. Dragging a blade across your face, washing it pulled the natural oils off your skin and made the breakouts apparent. Other areas are not meant to be shaved, which is why women get Brazilians where it’s waxed. Trim those areas but don’t go bald. You’re meant to have hair down there. "
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4d9t1i | how do people who use shell companies to hide money spend this money? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4d9t1i/eli5_how_do_people_who_use_shell_companies_to/ | {
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"Unfortunately there are many ways to do this and they can be complicated as all hell.\n\nIn a nutshell.\n\nYou are John Doe. You have money that you don't either want people knowing about, or need moved around discreetly.\n\nYou hire John Smith, a proxy who acts on your behalf.\n\nJohn Smith, then sets up JS LLC as a corporate entity and runs the \"business\".\n\nJS LLC, while they work for John Doe, indirectly has autonomy, and is not a direct asset of John Smith. So as it does business, this hidden shell company can act without attracting the attention of John Smith International.\n\nJSI is a much larger, more heavily scrutinized company than JS LLC, and as such has much more pressure and public backlash. They can act THROUGH JS LLC, to get what they want done without anyone being able to hold JSI culpable.\n\nAnd if things go bad, they close up JS LLC, and start up JD LLC instead. All the responsibilites of JS LLC lie with JS LLC and don't transfer over to JD LLC if something bad happens.",
"Hi, my name is BadgerBash, and I am a tax evader, here's how I did it.\n\nI own Pepsi, and american company, and I make a lot of money off of it. Actually, I made 10 billion dollars last year. Because the government wants to tax my money at 10%, I would loose 1 Billion dollars in profit. So I decide to set up a fake company in another country, where the tax rate is only 1%. So my fake company, Samsung, is located in the Bahamas, and I bill Pepsi 9 billion dollars. All of my money is now moved to the Bahamas. Now Pepsi only made 1 Billion dollars, and only owes the us government 100 Million. Samsung is worth 9 Billion, and owes the bahamas 90 Million.\n\nIf I would have been legit about my business, I would owe the government 1 Billion Dollars. Instead, now I owe the government 200 Million dollars.\n\nNow, imagine if thousands of people did this too. ",
"[Watch this](_URL_0_) NPR Planet Money radio show. It is exactly what you need!",
"_URL_0_\n\nThis is one way they did it back n 2004. The companies lobbied Congress for a tax holiday arguing reinvestment in the American economy, but really used it to pay dividends and perform buybacks. "
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21r8fk | why do people hate the way they sound on camera? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21r8fk/eli5_why_do_people_hate_the_way_they_sound_on/ | {
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"The reason is you hear yourself differently.\n\n_URL_0_",
"There is a trick to speaking for being recorded. DJs and TV personalities spend a good bit of time listening to recordings of themselves and critiquing how they sound, and adapting their voices to sound less bad.",
"It's cognitive dissonance. Your brain hears your voice, but since it doesn't sound the same, your brain says \"That's not your voice because it's not what we're used to hearing.\" That cognitive dissonance makes you feel negatively about the situation.",
"You are hearing yourself differently than normal. When you speak, the vibrations that cause sounds travel through your head and interact with your inner ear, producing extra hums, buzzes, and misc. sounds that other people don't hear. The voice you hear in recordings is how everyone else hears you all of the time.",
"I have no sources available at the moment, because I'm on my phone, but O remember reading somewhere that we hear our voice *much* differently in our heads than how it actually sounds to other people. The sounds waves reverberate inside our heads and through other parts of our head (example: a vibration from your voice, through the material in your neck, up to your ear canal), which produces a different sound than what we project to others. So, on top of the fact that the copy of any person's voice is not exact, and sounds slightly distorted due to microphone quality, the recorded voice sounds very different from the voice we are used to hearing."
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231ohr | will we eventually reach a point where we have "cured" most causes of death, or will they just be replaced with new causes? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/231ohr/eli5_will_we_eventually_reach_a_point_where_we/ | {
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"Once we cure the everywhere diseases, there will still be the ones that burn your skin off and turn you into goo too fast for us to save you.Those will probably be pandemic once we eliminate their competition",
"Most causes of death are problems with cells aging and not reproducing properly, or problems with build-ups of substances such as \"bad\" cholesterol.\n\nOnce we fix that issue, we may find that new diseases spring up once you pass age 200 or so, but it's more likely that we will live until we have some accident or violent death.\n\nPopulation control is less of an issue than you might think. Already, the reproductive rate is decreasing. More and more people are deciding to have only one child, or none at all. If you think of the people you know who have a lot of children, chances are they are either doing it because of ignorance of proper birth control or a religious reason. There are exceptions - people who just love having kids, but the people who have no kids compensate for them.",
"At a certain point they will just be replaced by a famine",
"I don't think this is the right subreddit for your question.",
"Others have answered the key points, so here's a couple related thoughts:\n\nThere are some companies currently trying to figure this out, one of the notable ones is the Methuselah Foundation, which has been invested in by Peter Thiel. Most of them are in stealth mode or their research is so long term that there's not much info about them out there. Aubrey de Gray, the founder of Methuselah, has done TED talks but as of my last investigation, there's a lot of theoreticals being bounced around.\n\nThe sci fi trilogy Red Mars explores this concept as colonists on Mars find cures to aging and can live hundreds of years. The problems they encounter revolve mainly around memory and the brain's function. Even if you cure all the diseases that can afflict a human body, how do you get a brain that was evolved to work for about a hundred years to last ten times that?",
"I always wondered why curing death is not the #1 top priority of the human race. Seems we spend more on curing life than curing death.",
" > population control\n\nMost developed countries already have a very low birth rate. It wouldn't be surprising if we find most of their birth rates drop to 1 per couple. ",
"That already happened, you know. Most people used to die of either childhood disease, starvation, violence, or infection. We (speaking of the first world now) have reduced the first three to negligible levels, so now it's cancer and heart disease that finish the job. ",
"More likely that we will replace humans with strong AI."
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67dq4i | why are the southern states that took part in the confederacy proud instead of deeply ashamed of it and their defeat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67dq4i/eli5_why_are_the_southern_states_that_took_part/ | {
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"The Southern States bore the brunt of the Covil War. All but two battles were fought in their territory, and while the North had a larger death toll in nominal terms, the South proportionally had a higher fatality rate. They gave up tons, and had nothing to show for it. This led to the lost cause movements 20-30 years after the war which somewhat successfully rebranded the confederates message, and romanticized the Rebel fight. Combine this with the Union being very lenient on the Confederacy during Reconstruction, because they didn't want to deal with a never ending insurgency, and you have a recipe for how the Confederacy is viewed by many today.",
" > It's not all of the southern states, just mainly ones that are still way behind in education.\n\nEven in those states, it's only a certain percentage that thinks this way.",
"One of those odd facets of human nature: when you don't have a lot, you get proud of it.\n\nThey don't have much. Most of the poorest states in the country, hereditary poverty, no real opportunity to ever be anything else. But you can be proud of that one time when your people were the rebels, and in your head, that fight was the fight against all that has turned your life into shit *today*.\n\nSouth's getting a bit better. Some big cities cropping up, cheap housing, open spaces. Even in my lifetime I've seen places reverse their long slide.\n\nIt's still going to be a while though, before the *now* is cool enough that they don't feel the need to cling to history.",
"In addition to what others have said, it's their history. Good or bad, a lot of the people living in those areas now have ancestors that were in the war. No one wants to go through life feeling ashamed all the time (even if some tell them that they should, in fact especially if someone is telling them they should). So there's three choices; ignore that entire part of your family history, town history, state history, feel like shit because of the bad stuff, or remember and be proud of the good stuff.\n\nAnd yes, there was good stuff. The vast majority of southerners fighting for the Confederacy had never, not once, owned a slave. In fact quite a few of them probably viewed slavery as a lot of people view automation now: something that is taking jobs we could and should be working. Why should I scrape by on a meager plot of land with my sons working the fields and my daughters tending the livestock while the big plantation owner in the next county can make a fortune with labor he doesn't have to pay. So why did tens of thousands of non-slave owning lower class citizens sign up to fight for the Confederacy? Because they believed in states rights, that a state should govern itself within its own borders, and that being a part of the Union ought to be voluntary. When the Union told them that no, they couldn't leave and we're sending Federal troops to make sure you don't, that pissed a lot of people off, slavery or no. Many soldiers in the Confederacy weren't there fighting for \"The Confederacy\", and they sure as hell weren't fighting for some rich guys with cheap labor. They fought to protect their state, which at the time they saw as their country. Back then, people still thought of states as what the name implies: its own nation. Don't forget that that's why they were called states and not some other term like province. State is a synonym for nation. That's why there's a State Department. That's why Presidents and Prime Ministers are called \"Chiefs of State\". The State of Virginia was to them a nation called Virginia. A nation that had a voluntary membership in a Union of other nations, and should be free to leave if they choose.\n\nMany southerners (and non southerners) still look up at that motivation as something good. Casting off the yoke of an oppressive government, fighting for the right of your community to see to their own affairs, fighting what they see as foreign invaders.\n",
"Because 3 in 10 southern men fought for the Confederacy so a huge chunk of the South has an ancestor that fought for the CSA. Compare that with something like a percent of all Americans now are in the military.\n\nAlso consider that the South has an independent culture from the rest of the US. From Texas to Virginia it's The South. There really are no comparable regional cultures anymore. \n\nEverybody not from the south picks on the South. I know I do. They still despise all these damn Yankees moving down south and being rude and shitting on them. So of course they have pride in the time they told all those Yankees to fuck off back where they came.",
"It's amazing to see all the people not from a southern state comment on the state of the south. I think the majority of you are deeply misinformed about the present day south and need to spend some legitimate time here. \n\n",
"Because instead of seeing as \"We fought to keep slaves\" people in the south see it as \"My great great grandfather fought for what he believed in.\"\nThe Confederate flag is often seen in the south as a symbol of their heritage. Their ancestors had that flag flying above their house and so do they. \nI don't typically agree with my fellow southerners on this issue, but as far as I know this seems to be the case.",
"This is a pretty loaded question but I'll give it a shot... \n\nFirstly, most southerners do not have pride related to the CSA, the civil war, or the Rebel Flag. Asking why southern states support the civil war is similar to asking why the rainbow is yellow.\n\nThere are two questions your question brings up in my mind. Why would anyone support a war fought over slavery? And why does it APPEAR like southern states all support this idea or at least in some way reflect values held during this time.\n\n1. I believe people who align themselves with the idea of \"Rebel Pride\" split into 2 camps. The first camp is people who feel it is their duty to show respect, tradition, or honor to ancestors known to have serveed in the Civil War. They may not even support slavery, racism, or bigotry but rather want to preserve the idea of a simpler time. I would imagine like a history buff who says, \"Why should I have to forget or even be ashamed of a time in history when my ancestors fought what they felt was oppression.\" IMO this is the minority of confederate supporters but they are important because many politicians seem to hold this point of view in order to hold their constituents.\n\nThe second camp is those who honestly get something out of \"Rebel Pride\". I have met people who seem to have pride in their racism, and beliefs that most would seem unsavory (homophobia, anarchism, xenophobia). These people might feel downtrodden, forgotten, left behind, or honestly just \"justified\" in their thinking. I also notice people who admire the idea of \"the south rising again\" come from a background filled with others who hold the same beliefs. It isn't a mystery, if your family and community value football chances are you will end up valuing football. \n\n2. Why does it seem like the southern states all unanimously agree that the Civil War was good? We don't but politically we have a difficult time electing officials who represent moderate political stances. Elected officials may feel they cannot abandon old symbols such as the Rebel Flag because doing so may be a bad move for their next election campaign. Imagine a Governor decides to remove the Rebel Flag from the capitol in a state (many of which already have). They run the high risk of losing voters who voted them while not gaining voters who will be voting for liberal politicians anyways. Think of it like this, people who hold conservative values are not usually \"Rebel Pride\" people, but people who are \"Rebel Pride\" people are almost always conservatives. Politicians stand to gain from not offending some their constituents while possibly infuriating non-constituents therefore progress is sometimes in the back seat to when it comes to issues such as removing a rebel flag.\n\nAnother thing to consider is the facts that the media heavily covers any kind of racial tension. If two guys march around with a rebel flag the media knows they can keep people watching by covering that story over another story. \n\nI however am just an observer so I'm curious what an expert or possibly rural southerner would say.\n\nTL:DR It stems from tradition, ignorance, and is passed down from one generation to the next. Most southerners don't like the Civil War.",
"This was asked pretty recently, and this is the second time I've reposted this in two days. The answer is the active effort by ex-Confederates to revise history throughout the late 19th century:\n\n > The answer has been given as to what the Confederate flag represents.\n\n > However, there is more to the story - **why the Confederate flag is still in widespread use across the South.**\n\n > In the wake of the American Civil War, there was a very considerable effort by ex-Confederates to rehabilitate the image of the South. This historiographical narrative is called \"the Lost Cause of the South\", and refers to the revisionist effort to portray the reasons for the South and its soldiers seceding and fighting the war as a somehow noble struggle - the [Doomed Moral Victor](_URL_0_), to use troperspeak.\n\n > The primary problem that this narrative needed to overcome was the problem of slavery being morally bankrupt. So the Lost Cause narrative went around this by suggesting that the South seceded in order to fight for \"states' rights\" and to \"protect the Southern way of life\" which was romanticized. Two Lost Cause films that promote these ideas are *Gone With The Wind* and *Gods And Generals*.\n\n > Next, the Lost Cause had to smear the names of the Union heroes and promote the Confederate heroes as somehow superior. Lee's gentlemanly mannerisms and brilliant stratagems are held in contrast to Grant's \"simple-minded butchery\" and vulgar habits. The defamation of Grant extended even into his term as President, which is frequently derided as an extremely corrupt administration. Stonewall Jackson's piety and tactical brilliance is venerated while his extreme eccentrism and laziness to the point of detriment is glossed over. Sherman's March to the Sea is portrayed as an episode of history's worst war crimes.\n\n > Next, Confederates who repented had to be ruined. James Longstreet was one of Lee's most reliable and competent subordinates, but after the war was over Longstreet criticized the South's motives for war and, even worse, dared to collaborate with the Republican politicians. His reputations was destroyed by Lost Cause revisionists, most egregiously in that blame for the defeat at Gettysburg was pinned upon him rather than Lee for decades.\n\n > Next, the Doomed Moral Victor narrative had to be justified ex post facto - the South had to have started an unwinnable war for noble reasons and died a martyr. The Civil War was winnable by the South - the North, despite its many advantages, still had to impose its will over a huge area and population. All the South had to do was resist and hold its key areas long enough for the North to decide the war was unwinnable, and thus come to the negotiating table. But the South's gross incompetence in the Western theatres and inability to win offensive victories meant they lost the initiative and ceded key territories (such as New Orleans and the Mississippi River) that ultimately doomed their war effort.\n\n > Finally, Reconstruction had to be demonized. Narratives of exploitative carpet-baggers and corrupt radical Republican administration dominated. Black suffrage was portrayed as a terrible, misguided mistake. Egalitarianism was a failed experiment that only caused disorder and disunity. When the election of 1876, the closest election in American history, rolled around, the Republicans compromised with the Dixiecrats and lifted military administration from the former rebellious states, and the Jim Crow era began as black residents of these states were totally deprived of their franchise and civil liberties.\n\n > But why and how did this happen? Because the North wanted it to happen. Years of war and division had taken their toll, and both sides wanted reconciliation. The North was tired of expending its resources keeping down a strife-ridden South, and the Southerners wanted their sacrifices acknowledged as well as assurances that they weren't evil people. That the rights and freedom of African-Americans in the South had to be sacrificed on the altar of reconciliation was inconsequential - the Northern population might have opposed slavery, but they were just as racist as their Southern cousins.\n\n > And so the narrative became set in stone as truth - the Dunning School interpretation of the war was extremely popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Even today, the influence and damage of the Lost Cause narrative is still readily evident. **And because the Lost Cause narrative rehabilitated the image of the Confederacy over a century ago, it later became acceptable for the Confederate flag to be displayed as a symbol of \"Southern pride and heritage\"**\n\n > Source: The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History (ed. Gallagher and Nolan)",
"My experience: If you talk to someone who is holding a confederate flag, who knows what they are talking about, they are not going to say slavery is a good thing. They won't say that the war was about slavery. They would say that the north was using the south's tax money for purposes not in the south. As to the declaration that all slaves are to be free, well that came as a gimmick after the south decided to succeed. As was their right so the south thought. \n\nTl:Dr: the war in their opinion wasn't about slaves.",
"In central Texas there's a monument to Texans who joined the union. I'm proud of that. In north Texas there's a monument for confederate soldiers with zero information condemning slavery. The Texas declaration of war distinctly mentions that slaves should be slaves. That's pretty awful. \n\nI feel that if these monuments were treated like history lessons on why racism is bad then I would be okay with them. ",
"Because they weren't reconstructed hard enough.\n\nHad the officers and government officials of the Confederacy all been tried for treason and executed and occupation forces drafted new state constitutions outlawing the confederate flag and enshrining equal rights and dictated school curriculums that explained the southern states treason people wouldn't have this strange reverence for the traitors that nearly tore this country apart.",
"Texan here. I really don't like slavery. You have no idea how much I hate it.\nHowever, when I see the Dixie flag, it usually means one of two things, entirely dependent upon the person flying it.\n\n9 times out of 10, it's being flown because the person doesn't like the federal government, preferring local governance and the use of their personal freedoms, specifically the right to keep and bear arms not being infringed. If you think they have nothing to worry about, you need to read more history. Countries have done it time and again: taken the citizen's weapons away and then ignored the citizen's interests. Look at Venezuela. It doesn't happen every time a country takes away it's law-abiding citizen's means of defending themselves, but it's a very serious warning sign. It's a serious concern, and there's a lot of money in politics about it.\n\nAnd then there's that one asshat that flies it because he thinks he's a rebel and is a racist fuck and doesn't obey any goddamn rules about drinking beer from a glass bottle on the beach. He is the one you hear about, not the rest of the states-rights advocates.\n\nBut no, we're not all racist down here. We don't want slavery, we aren't waving the flag because we want to dress up as ghosts and lynch people. The war was about the \"right\" to make our own rule about slavery, not whether that rule was right or wrong. There were a few \"free\" states that joined the confederacy, because they agreed the decision shouldn't be left up to the federal government. Several laws, including legal driving age and laws about taxes make much more sense when they are tailored to a certain population size or geographic region. It makes a lot more sense to tax oil in New York City, where driving is a luxury and public transportation is common, rather than North Texas, where it could be 15 miles to the nearest grocery store. The \"rebels\" wanted the United States to stand by the original intent of the founding fathers, as shown through the Articles of Confederation and the name \"United States\". The country was intended to be like Ancient Greece, of several independently governed provinces that could unite under a common demographic interest. Now, we are one big country, with several smaller regions with each own's quirks and rules but basically the same.",
"It's almost totally Southern Whites that take pride in it. It's not just white folks in the South.\n\nMy ancestors (on both sides, mom's and dad's) were freed (and runaway) slaves from the south and fought for the Union.",
"There are a lot of different aspect to it, but as for being ashamed of the defeat, I think the narrative has a lot to do with \"moral victory\". \n\nBased on money and industry, the North should probably have crushed the Southern rebellion at lot more quickly than it did. \n\nThe fact that the South put up the fight it did gets pushed as a big point. Spirit and will versus overwhelming federal resources. \n\nGranted, the reality probably has a lot more to do with early mistakes by the North, but civil war history isn't my main topic. ",
"Racism & ignorance are still there, sure, but that's really not it. \n \nFrom my experience it's just about 'rebellion' and individuality. For having the balls to stand up against the North, rather than the principals at stake - and I don't even think most southerners think of it that way, that's just how I've perceived it.\n \nRebel flag is the same story, it's a symbol of being country & not letting anyone tell you what to do, forget the fact that it wounds every black person that sees it in a deep and haunting way, much like seeing a Nazi flag flying in Germany would wound a Jewish person, and cause them to be like GUYS, WTF, THIS ISN'T A FLAG CELEBRATING HERITAGE, THINK ABOUT YOUR ACTIONS.\n \nThe problem is the rebel flag & rebel attitude is about not listening to authority, so... anyone who tries to point those things out has a real rough time.\n \nOh and yes, racism is still a huge engrained problem no one wants to admit. But it's clear. "
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218e0m | why are young kids often repulsed by their peers of the opposite sex? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/218e0m/eli5_why_are_young_kids_often_repulsed_by_their/ | {
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"There is no defined answer as of yet. It's all wrapped up in the complex puzzle of child psychology.\n\nThe theory that I learned is that it's not that they are repulsed by members of the opposite sex, it's that when interacting with them, they feel different things than with their family, peers of the same sex, etc.\n\nThese different things, being new, often leave them feeling strange/uncomfortable because they don't understand what is going on. So they mask this as repulsion, the same way that they don't like strangers in general when first meeting, they don't like new things, etc.\n\nThis is just speculation and theory though, I'm no child psychologist, I just play one on Reddit.",
"It could be environmental. I don't remember having issues like that when I was a kid.",
"Cooties only affects kids 1-11. It is a disease where the only known cure is turning 12. ",
"They don't until someone comes along and yells at them for behaving inappropriately.",
"I have two girls aged 4 and 5. Neither of them are repulsed by boys. Perhaps it's something to do with the adults in their lives making silly jokes about boys being ikky or those horrible people who think it's cute to ask little boys or girls about their 'boyfriends or girlfriends' and then laugh and smile about it. Children can be made to feel awkward about things they don't understand",
"Just taking a stab in the dark. Different interests would repel, without the negated effect of physical attractiveness due to puberty etc. For example, while there are certainly some in both examples which counteract this, generally speaking, little girls wouldn't want to play war with the boys, and the boys wouldn't want to play house with the girls. Some of this is societal of course, but regardless of why it happens, it happens. If I am in a situation where a group of people don't want to do what I want to do, I'm not going to hang out with them. Multiply this effect with a kid's reduced pressure of \"being polite\", negate any sexual attractiveness/desire to please/be accepted by the opposite sex, and also the need to be accepted by others whom you DO enjoy doing stuff with, and you get a bunch of boys and girls in groups not wanting to associate with the other. ",
"The best answer I have heard (as an actual psychologist, though not one specializing in social development), is that is has to do with gender identity development.\n\nVery young children, (e.g. 3 yo's) actually do play with the opposite gender. However, then children begin to develop rigid gender roles (e.g. girl's can't be firemen), and so children then associate with only same gender children and their appropriate games. Then as children become older and have a better sense of their own gender, their understanding of gender roles become less strict."
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1h1q7w | what happens when i pull the fire alarm? | I just had to evacuate my office (in Jersey City). Someone pulled the fire alarm and the fire fighters came within minutes. What exactly happens when I pull the alarm?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1h1q7w/eli5_what_happens_when_i_pull_the_fire_alarm/ | {
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"The alarm is monitored remotely, usually by a 3rd party alarm company. When it's activated, the person doing the monitoring calls the fire department dispatcher. Older systems [like antique outdoor fire alarm boxes] signaled the fire department directly by telegraph. \n\nI know very little about this topic, so I'm looking forward to more replies.",
"A typical fire alarm system (I work with a Gamewell system) is a normaly closed circuit. So if you think about it as a series of switches and lights, all of the lights would be on normaly. So if someone pulls the lever, it would turn off all of the lights in that set. If we put that set on the 4th floor of your building we know the alarm was pulled on that floor. There is a seperate signal that can detect specific locations and start any alarm tones from the main controls depending on how modern the system is. \n\nThe fire sprinkler systems have a flow detection alarm in them that does nearly the same thing aswell.",
"Related question: What punishment does one get when they pull the alarm and there is no fire? \n\nIn terms of punishment: \n\n* Are kids treated differently than adults? \n* Are schools treated differently than workplaces? \n* Are bigger buildings treated differently than smaller buildings? \n\nEDIT: bullet formatting"
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22hwk6 | why do gas station employees have such low salaries? | The way I see it, buying and selling oil is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet the workers on the consumer level of the market make barely more than or are equivalent to minimum wage. If fuel is the driving factor for society today, shouldn't most employees who deal with fuel transactions/transportation be taking home more liveable income salaries? For comparison, I hear call-center workers take home on average 11-13 dollar per hour as opposed to 7.25 at gas stations, or at least the one I'm employed at. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22hwk6/eli5why_do_gas_station_employees_have_such_low/ | {
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"It's a low-skill job that pretty much anyone can work. It doesn't require extensive education beyond elementary school math & very little training.\n\nIt's easy to find workers & they're easily replaced. This means wages are low - about on par with any other low-skill retail job.\n\nSurprisingly, most gas stations operate on a very low profit margin so they're not making much money. They're independently owned, not owned by the oil companies."
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3tg3q6 | the federal budget | My family thinks that balancing the federal budget is easy. With an election year fast-approaching, I would like to have a better understanding of what goes into it, what gets pulled from it and what must be done to balance it. (NOTE: I understand that there may be different opinions on balancing the budget so feel free to exclude from your explanation). Thank you in advance for making my Thanksgiving conversations more interesting. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3tg3q6/eli5_the_federal_budget/ | {
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"The Federal Budget is the spending plan the U.S. uses to allocate money to all the stuff it's in charge of. The Executive Branch (AKA the president) drafts the proposed budget, then Congress has to approve it, which can be a politically difficult thing to do. \n\n > what goes into it\n\nThe money that goes into it is the money collected by the Federal Government, often in the form of taxes and fees. \n\n > what gets pulled from it \n\n[This poster, called Death & Taxes, is a great visualization of what is spent by the U.S. government at the Federal level.](_URL_0_) It's a TON of stuff, because a country as complex as ours kinda requires it. The military. And by military, I mean all the branches, all the stuff they use, paychecks for soldiers, etc. Social Security is a part of this. Research funding is a part of this. Paying Federal employees who do stuff like monitor our drinking water is a part of this. Helping poor people afford to eat and live is a part of this. \n\n > what must be done to balance it. \n\nIt's super duper tricky for all the reasons that poster indicates. Tons of different agencies need different amount of allocations based on different needs. And what those needs will end up being is all based on projection. For that matter, how much you'll get in taxes varies based off projection too. \n\n\n"
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dpm55i | how do scientists detect the distance of source of radio waves coming from different regions of universe? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dpm55i/eli5_how_do_scientists_detect_the_distance_of/ | {
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"Netflix has a documentary right now called black hole Armageddon that actually explains this well. Essentially we need triangulation in order to determine distance and this mass of an object. They take one reading at one date, then another 6 months later when we are at the opposite part of our orbit (a known fixed distance, forming base of triangle). With the diameter of earth orbit as bass of triangle, scientists calculate the angle of intercept with object to determine length of triangle legs. \n\nAfter typing all of this, it may actually be the electromagnetic method, not radio... I still think it’s cool.",
"Simply: Light stretches and the further away something is, the more the light stretches\n\nLess simply:\n\nWaves stretch in accordance to how fast an object is moving towards/away from you, called the doppler effect.\n\nTo gauge distance, we must first relate the specific waves (as objects emit more than one, this is very important) to an object. The detected wavelengths are then matched to an existing similar object that is not moving relative to earth.\n\nUsing the mathematics of the doppler effect, we can form an estimate of how fast an object is moving away from us. From there, it is possible to estimate the distance from you to the object. This is because there is a natural law in the universe where objects are moving away from you faster the further away you are from it.\n\nAlso, different light wavelengths stretch by the same amount for a unit of speed, so the detected spectral lines just need translating to the left or right.",
"There are some characteristic patterns in radio waves that correspond to emissions of popular elements.\n\nIf we see those patterns in a signal, but they are shifted towards the red, we can deduce how far the object was - the further away, the stronger the shift. This is not a very precise method but it's good enough for very far objects.",
"Actually, you can get a decent measurement of the distance to pulsars by measuring the dispersion of their radio frequency pulses at different wavelengths. \n\nEssentially, the longer the wavelength of the radio waves, the more they are slowed down by the charged particles in the interstellar and intergalactic mediums. The density of these particles is extremely low but over these vast distances it is enough to produce a measurable effect. \n\nThis only works on pulsars because you need a discrete pulse in order to measure the distance in travel time. While continuous RF sources suffer from the same dispersion effect there isn't a good way to measure it. \n\nThe following link is a good write up on the effect. \n\n_URL_0_",
"The real answer is the cosmic distance ladder: [_URL_1_](_URL_0_)\n\nThe ELI5 is we measure closer stuff, then a little further, then a little further, until we can measure stuff very far away ans link it back."
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5no8jn | why do women open their mouths when they put on eye makeup? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5no8jn/eli5_why_do_women_open_their_mouths_when_they_put/ | {
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"Men occasionally do it while shaving too. Moving the jaw out helps pull the skin on the cheeks and under the eyes tighter.",
"Personally, I do it because it pulls my bottom eyelid down just enough that I can get mascara on my lower lashes without getting more on the upper ones or jamming the wand straight into my eyeball."
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1s5orv | is it possible to create a second internet for people fed up with the hijacking of internet freedom by corporations and governments? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s5orv/eli5_is_it_possible_to_create_a_second_internet/ | {
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"Yeah, sure. Who's paying?",
"Yes, and it's already happening check out mesh networking and darknet.\n\nAlso, don't worry there's no possible to realistically legislate the internet practically. It's an exercise in futility. ",
"Yes but you will be the only person on it so you wont see much. \n\nCompanies build there own networks all the time. I even have 6 computers at home that are networked to each other. Back in college we ran cable out one window and into the next room to link computers. But only the computers connected to each other can talk to each other. So what are you going to do with your computer, and a couple of neighbors computers connected together and not tied to the rest of the world? Do you have 50 bagillion TB to store movies for a netflix replacement? You can put up your own reddit but the 10 people involved wont generate much traffic. No google maps. You can only game with the people involved.\n\nOnce you start talking larger than your neighborhood who is going to lay and pay for the fiber to the next town? The routers at the end of the block, downtown and in [major cities connecting everything together](_URL_1_)? Who is going to maintain the [root DNS servers](_URL_0_)? Who is going to negotiate with other countries to arrange peering agreement to see them, but at the same time keep them from connecting your private internet to the main one?\n",
"Yes, and some of the smartest people in the field are [working on it](_URL_0_).",
"See here:\n\n/r/darknet\n\n/r/darknetplan\n\n/r/meshnet",
"You're mixing up a couple of different concepts - a common issue. \n\nThe Internet as we know it is a specific set of computers that talk to each other with a particular set of protocols. It is the most broadly accessible internetworks but large companies and governments have (and still do) run networks separate from 'the Internet'. \n\nThe underlying technology the Internet runs on however is the telecoms industry. Most networks that go beyond a building rely on the telecoms industry. Some outfits run their own dedicated telecoms lines (notably banks in big cities, and there's some dedicated stuff between Chicago and New York for example). But generally, if it runs, it runs though the telecoms infrastructure of someone big and important. \n\n > by corporations and governments?\n\nHere is where you basically run into problems. If you and I wanted to make the Internet2 with just you and I as web hosts and web servers and we physically lived near enough to each other we could run a cable or use the unlicenced spectrum block we could try. For a while.\n\nBut governments set out the rules for who can use spectrum for what, and you can't just go stringing thousands of Km of fibre optic cable without permission. At some point, for the project to go anywhere useful it becomes too big to keep people from the government and major corporations out of it. Even if you wanted to buy a bundle of telecoms equipment trying to build all of that equipment outside of government regulation and oversight and outside of corporate influence is essentially impossible. \n\nThe NSA is a signals intelligence agency - that means it spies on the telecoms. Spying on 'the Internet', and Chinese internal networks and DoD internal networks etc. is all part of the fun. But ultimately if someone is spying on the telecoms you're using it becomes rather difficult to keep too much secret. They can see what is going in and out of your endpoint and where it is if they really want. ",
"We've had one Internet yes, but what about second Internet?"
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ajog69 | how do handwarmers work? | I'm wondering about the chemical reactions behind handwarmers, the ones activated by air and shaking | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ajog69/eli5_how_do_handwarmers_work/ | {
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"Just looked it up on Google, and it's basically rusting. The packs contain iron, activated carbon, and water. When you open the pack and shake it, you introduce air that starts the process, which generates heat."
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4px1lc | how do our eyes see the color pink? | It's not on the rainbow, so I'm just wondering. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4px1lc/eli5_how_do_our_eyes_see_the_color_pink/ | {
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"text": [
"Pink is red plus white. We have different types of cells in our eyes, some detect colour (like on the rainbow), others detect intensities of white. What you're seeing is a mix of signals from one cell that detects the red colour, and another cell that detects the lighter intensity that makes it pink-coloured.\n\nYou can see this by taking a black-and-white picture of a red colour patch next to a pink colour patch. You'll see that pink appears to be a lighter shade of gray than red does.",
"Your eyes see a range of color, like an RGB scale if you have seen one (red, green, blue). If an object reflects the correct combination of red, green, and blue, then it looks pink to us.",
"Rainbows do not represent all of the colors the human eye can see, it represents all the spectral colors, that is, the colors that can be represented by a single wavelength of light. Your eyes can see many different mixtures and combinations of these different wavelengths.\n\nPink is simply a washed-out form of red or magenta, i.e., suppose you took some red dye and put only a little bit in a clear glass of water, the water would turn pink.\n\n",
"Here is the RGB code for deep pink\n\n255-20-147\n\nThis is equivalent to a measurement of the amount of red, green, and blue in light that would make up something our eyes see as pink. Not quite exact but close.\n\nIf you are talking about a painting, yes red and white make pink but that is because you see the reflection of the light which hits the paper and returns, not the paint itself. If you defracted that light coming to your eyes and measured the red/green/blue ratio you would get the above values once again. \n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1ugepc | children who star in horror or mature rated movies, how are they able to watch their own movies that contain inappropriate/sex scenes? | They must know how well they did as an actor/actress, right? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ugepc/eli5_children_who_star_in_horror_or_mature_rated/ | {
"a_id": [
"cehtdkw",
"cehz4f2"
],
"score": [
8,
4
],
"text": [
"There's a myth about Olivia Hussey, who as a 16 year old showed her breast in a movie, and so it's said she wasn't allowed to attend the premiere. But I doubt it's true, and there were pictures of her at the premiere and stuff, so it's pretty unlikely.\n\nBut in the US, an R rating means no one 17 unless accompanied by their parent or guardian. I'm not sure if it's the same in other places, but for the most part I'd imagine if the star wanted to attend the special screening, and had their parents, manager, and/or other guardian with them, they'd be allowed in to see it.",
"Often they cannot. Danny Lloyd e.g. - 6 years old while filming The Shining - didn't know it was a horror movie until years later. He wasn't allowed to watch it. Same with many other child actors in adult movies."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
8tswvh | why do people want power and control? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8tswvh/eli5_why_do_people_want_power_and_control/ | {
"a_id": [
"e19xpsu"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Evolution favors it. People with lots of power are more likely to command resources that benefit their offspring, increasing their survival rate."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
609hiy | why are people in the communities least likely to be affected by terrorism the most afraid of it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/609hiy/eli5_why_are_people_in_the_communities_least/ | {
"a_id": [
"df4jeyq",
"df4k35q",
"df4klgo"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Eh that's not really true though. The media from those areas may be more vocal but that is because that media needs to find something interesting to talk about. Nothing happens in middle US. Tons and tons of stuff happens at the coasts of the US, and even though those areas have WAY more security in terms of border/coast control and actual on-ground personnel, there is also way more stuff happening for the local media to talk about",
"Making a lot of assumptions. \nA)People in NY, DC, LA and SF aren't afraid of possible terrorism \nB)People in middle america are more afraid of terrorism \nC)People in NY, DC, LA, and SF aren't more afraid of possible terrorism than those in middle america \nD)People in NY, DC, LA and SF don't believe they are under constant threat of attack \nE)People in middle america believe they are under constant threat of attack. \n\nWhat psychological mechanism causes you to make all these assumptions? \n\nOn a personal note, as a person in middle america, I find myself saying, \"Thank god I'm out here in wisconsin, and there's no chance of that shit happening here\"",
"I'm not sure that your premise is accurate but I will add that the purpose of terrorism is micro-violence to create exponential effect. This effect is psychological which in turn drives action. Those that live in areas where \"terror\" acts are more common understand a few things clearly. One is that life goes on and two is that 'terror\" events have little physical effect beyond those that are hurt or killed. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
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